m 


]  THE 
*^*v, 


KELIGION    OF  THE  EAST, 


IMPRESSIONS    OF 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL, 


BY   J.   HAWES,   D.   D. 

OR     OF   THE     FIRST     CHURCH     IN     HARTFORD. 


HARTFORD: 

PUBLISHED  BY  BELKNAP  &  HAMERSLEY. 
1845. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1845,  by 

BELKNAP    AND    HAMERSL.EY, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Connecticut. 


PRESS    OF   CASE,    TIFFANY    &    CO. 


TO  THE  REV.  RUFUS  ANDERSON,  D.  D. 


MY  DEAR  BROTHER, 

I  feel  that  there  is  a  propriety  in  connecting  your  name  with 
this  little  volume. 

Most  of  the  objects  and  scenes  which  it  describes,  or  to  which 
it  refers,  we  visited  together ;  and  in  perusing  its  pages  you 
will  often  be  reminded  of  trains  of  thought  which  passed  in 
conversation  between  us,  during  the  nine  months  we  were  fellow 
travelers  in  foreign  lands. 

That  tour,  which  made  us  companions  in  a  deeply  interest- 
ing, and  not,  I  trust,  unprofitable  visit  to  our  missionary  stations 
in  the  Levant,  I  love  to  remember  for  this,  among  other  reasons, 
that  it  endeared  and  cemented  a  friendship,  commenced  many 
years  since  between  us,  and  which,  I  trust,  will  be  consummated 
in  a  purer  and  better  world. 

That  you  and  the  beloved  brethren  associated  with  you,  in 
conducting  the  affairs  of  our  foreign  missions,  may  long  be  pre- 
served to  devote  your  united  counsels  and  efforts  to  the  advance- 
ment of  this  great  and  good  cause,  is  the  fervent  prayer  of 
Your  friend  and  fellow  laborer 

In  the  gospel  of  our  common  Lord. 

THE    AUTHOR. 
Hartford,  June,  1845. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

1  — Our  Goodly  Heritage,            ....  9 

2.— Paul  on  Mars  Hill,           .     '     >'  h          .  49 
3. — Bigotry  exhibited  and  reproved  in  the  Woman  of 

Samaria,           ,.            .            .            .            .  77 

4.— The  Religion  of  the  East,     .            .        ''  .  *•'        .  103 

5. — Obstacles  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  the  East,  145 

6. — Religious  Impressions  of  Palestine  and  Jerusalem,  179 


PREFACE. 


WHEN  it1  was  determined,  most  unexpectedly  to  myself,  that 
I  should  leave  my  people  and  my  home  on  a  visit  to  the  East, 
in  company  with  my  now  deceased  daughter,  and  my  beloved 
friend  Dr.  Anderson,  it  was  my  earnest  desire  and  prayer,  that 
I  might  make  the  interval  of  my  absence  as  profitable  to  myself 
and  others  as  possible.  With  this  view,  I  resolved  to  keep  my 
mind  open  to  just  impressions  from  all  that  I  might  see  and  hear 
in  the  lands  I  expected  to  visit.  I  wished  to  view  the  objects 
and  scenes  which  might  engage  my  attention,  not  merely  with 
the  eye  of  curiosity,  or  of  one  traveling  for  pleasure,  but  as  a 
Christian  minister,  that  so  I  might  turn  the  impressions  I  should 
receive,  to  the  spiritual  advantage  of  my  beloved  people,  and 
the  furtherance  of  the  great  objects  of  my  ministry, 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  my  journey, — it  could  not  be  oth- 
erwise ; — the  aspect  of  the  countries  I  visited,  the  people,  lan- 
guage, religion,  manners  and  customs,  were  all  so  strange  and 
so  new.  What  was  thus  interesting  to  myself,  I  naturally  con- 
cluded would  also  be  interesting  to  my  friends  at  home,  though 
presented  only  in  brief  statement  and  outline.  In  this  view,  I 
have  occasionally,  since  my  return,  delivered  discourses,  chiefly 
in  the  form  of  Sabbath  evening  lectures,  designed  to  give  my 
people  some  instructive  idea  of  the  scenes  I  passed  through 
during  the  time  I  was  absent  from  them.  The  discourses  in 
this  volume  are  a  part  of  what  I  have  attempted  in  this  way. 
They  were  prepared,  all  except  the  last,  with  no  intention  of 


VI  PREFACE. 

publishing  them.  But  as  they  were  listened  to  with  interest, 
and  I  trust,  profit,  by  many  who  heard  them,  I  have  thought,  in 
concurrence  with  the  suggestions  of  judicious  friends,  that  they 
might  be  useful,  if  more  widely  circulated  in  their  present  form. 
I  have  found  no  time  to  recast  or  to  polish  them  since  their  first 
composition.  I  give  them  to  the  public,  simply  as  containing 
a  faithful  representation  of  the  impressions  made  on  my  mind, 
by  my  visit  to  the  East,  and  in  theliope  that  they  may  contrib- 
ute somewhat  to  the  gratification  and  instruction  of  those  who 
may  not  be  able  to  read  larger  and  more  critical  works.  I  have 
made  few  allusions  in  this  volume  to  the  state  of  our  missions 
in  the  East.  The  reason  is,  I  have  before  communicated  my 
views  on  this  subject  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Prudential 
Committee  of  the  American  Board  in  Boston,  and  also  in  a  ser- 
mon I  published  soon  after  my  return  home.  • 

Most  of  the  facts  and  sentiments  contained  in  the  volume,tire 
of  course  from  my  own  observation.  What  I  have  derived  from 
other  sources  has  been  adopted  only  on  what  seemed  to  me 
sufficient  evidence ;  and  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  indi- 
cate my  authorities  by  numerous  references  in  the  margin. 

For  several  facts  contained  in  the  first  discourse,  I  am  indebted 
to  my  much  esteemed  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Mitchell,  late  pastor 
of  the  Edwards  church,  Northampton.  We  met  at  Liverpool,  and 
were  fellow  passengers  in  the  steamer  which  conveyed  us  across 
the  Atlantic.  I  remember  with  great  satisfaction  the  many 
pleasant  hours  we  spent,  during  the  voyage,  in  communicating 
to  each  other  the  views  we  had  been  led  to  entertain  nf  the 
countries  we  had  visited.  I  derived  much  useful  information 
from  our  intercourse  ;  and  I  take  this  opportunity  to  say,  that 
he  has  gathered,  from  his  European  tour,  rich  materials  for  a 
book  of  travels,  which,  I  am  happy  to  learn,  may  soon  be  ex- 


P  R  E  F  A  G  E  .  VII 

pected  from  the  press ;  and  from  what  I  know  of  his  plan  and 
his  ability  to  execute  it,  I  venture,  beforehand,  to  promise  the 
public,  that  they  may  expect  from  his  pen,  not  a  mere  itinerary, 
but  a  work  highly  instructive  and  useful. 

A  few  notes  have  been  added,  with  some  things  contained  in 
which,  all  may  not  be  pleased,  as  they  may  not  be  with  some 
things  contained  in  the  discourses.  I  make  no  apology.  What 
I  have  written,  I  am  sure,  is  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  charity 
towards  .all  who  hold  the  "  Head,"  and  regard  the  Christianity, 
which  is  common  to  all  true  Christians,  as  of  more  importance 
than  any  sectarian  form  of  it.  I  could  not  forgive  myself,  and  I 
should  fear  I  could  not  be  forgiven  of  my  Master,  if  I  should 
exclude  from  my  fellowship  those  whom  my  Master  loves  and 
receives  into  communion  with  himself;  and  I  am  willing;,  on 
every  suitable  occasion,  to  bear  testimony  against  this  great  evil. 
I  would,  that  the  sentiment  once  uttered  by  Robert  Hall,  were 
taken  up  and  echoed  from  pulpit  to  pulpit  through  Christen- 
dom :  "  If  there  be  one  truth  clear  as  the  sun  in  heaven,  it  is 
this — there  should  be  no  terms  of  communion  but  what  are 
terms  of  salvation ;  and  the  man  who  is  good  enough  for  Christ, 
is  good  enough  for  me!" 

The  worst  form  of  schism,  and  the  most  dangerous,  is  that 
which  leads  persons  to  separate  themselves,  and  exclude  others, 
from  fellowship  with  that  only  true  Church,  which  Christ  has 
purchased  with  his  own  blood,  and  which,  though  existing  here 
in  different  names  and  under  different  forms,  he  is  preparing  to 
present  faultless  before  the  throne  of  his  glory.  With  all  of 
every  name,  who  belong  to  this  Church,  I  wish  to  be  united 
in  fellowship  and  love  ;  but  with  respect  to  all  who  separate 
from  it,  and  so  become  schismatics,  I  feel  constrained  to  say — 
"  O  my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their  assem- 
bly, mine  honor  be  not  thou  united." 


OUR  GOODLY  HERITAGE. 


The  lines  have  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places  ;   yea,  I  have  a  goodly 
heritage.— PSALM  16  :  6.' 

PERHAPS  no  text  of  scripture  occurred  to  my 
mind  more  frequently  than  ihis,  during  my  recent 
tour  in  the  East.  As  I  passed  through  different 
lands,  observing  their  natural  position  and  resour- 
ces, and  the  general  state  of  society  around  me, 
as  contrasted  with  that  of  my  own  country,  I  often 
exclaimed,  Surely  the  lines  have  fallen  to  me 
in  pleasant  places,  yea  I  have  a  goodly  heritage. 
And  grateful  I  trust  for  the  many  distinguishing 
blessings  bestowed  by  a  beneficent  providence  on 
this  land  of  my  birth  and  of  my  love,  I  repeat- 
edly said  to  my  companion  in  travel, — if  ever  I 
live  to  preach  another  thanksgiving  sermon,  this 
shall  be  my  text.  God  has  mercifully  preserved 

*  Preached  on  the  Anniversary  Thanksgiving  Nov.  28,  1844. 
2 


10  OURGOODLY 

my  life,  and  brought  me  to  my  home,  and  to  my 
friends,  and  I  meet  you  here  to  day,  on  this  joy- 
ous anniversary,  to  execute  a  purpose,  formed 
when  I  was  more  than  five  thousand  miles  from 
the  spot  most  dear  to  me  of  any  on  earth. 

The  text  was  uttered  by  the  pious  king  of 
Israel  in  special  application  to  Judea,  the  land 
Where  he  dwelt,  and  which  God  had  distinguished 
by  his  favors  above  all  other  lands.  It  was  a  ter- 
ritory of  very  limited  extent,  being  only  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  miles  in  length  from  north  to 
south,  and  seventy  miles  in  its  greatest  breadth 
from  east  to  west, — not  twice  as  large  as  the  state 
of  Connecticut.  On  this  small  territory  there  once 
dwelt  a  numerous,  powerful  and  happy  people, 
more  distinguished  for  their  social  and  domestic 
comforts,  and  for  their  civil  and  religious  institu- 
tions and  privileges,  than  any  other  equal  number 
of  people  on  the  earth.  God  acknowledged  them 
as  his  people,  and  while  they  obeyed  his  laws 
and  ordinances,  he  dwelt  among  them,  their  glory 
and  defense,  and  poured  upon  them  his  bless- 
ings in  rich  profusion.  The  land  in  which  they 
dwelt  is  described  in  the  Bible  as  a  good  land,  a 
land  of  brooks  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths 


HERITAGE.  11 

that  spring  out  of  the  valleys  and  hills  ;  a  land 
of  wheat,  and  barley,  and  vines,  and  fig-lrees, 
and  pomegranales,  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  honey ; 
a  land  wherein  ihou  shall  eal  bread  without 
scarceness,  thou  shall  not  lack  any  good  thing  in 
it ;  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron,  and  out  of  whose 
hills  thou  mayest  dig  brass.*  It  was  in  the  midst 
of  this  goodly  scene,  and  while  surveying  the  rich 
blessings  enjoyed  by  him  and  his  people,  thai  the 
Psalmist,  in  pious  gratitude  for  these  blessings, 
was  led  to  utter  the  sentiment  in  our  text.  The 
scene  on  which  his  eye  icsted  wilh  such  graleful 
emolions,  as  comprising  all  the  elements  of  a 
happy  and  prosperous  state  of  society,  has  long 
since  passed  away  ;  and  as  one  travels  over  the 
land  which  was  formerly  so  rich  and  so  goodly  a 
heritage  of  a  numerous  and  happy  people,  his 
heart  is  filled  with  sadness,  as  he  beholds  the 
desolations  and  ruins  that  are  every  where  spread 
around  him.  So  barren,  so  dreary  and  waste  is 
the  general  appearance  of  the  country,  that,  but 
for  the  remains  of  ancient  grandeur  and  prosper- 
ity that  meet  him  on  every  side,  the  traveller 
would  find  it  difficult  lo  realize  ihe  descriplion 

*Deut.  viii  :  7^). 


12  OURGOODLY 

given  in  the  Bible  of  the  fertility,  plenty  and  gen- 
eral happiness,  which  once  characterized  the  land 
and  blessed  its  inhabitants.  The  hills  and  the 
valleys  are  indeed  there,  and  the  fountains  and 
springs  of  water,  and  the  beautiful,  extended 
plains.  But  all  else  is  changed.  The  people 
who  once  owned  and  tilled  the  soil  are  not  there. 
The  cities,  towns  and  villages  where  they  once 
lived,  in  the  midst  of  their  goodly  heritage,  are 
heaps  of  ruins.  The  terraced  hills  and  moun- 
tains, once  covered  with  the  vine,  the  fig-tree  and 
the  olive,  are  now  barren  and  waste  ;  and  on  the 
plains  and  valleys,  where  once  the  shepherds  of 
Israel  tended  their  flocks,  or  the  husbandman 
"shouted  the  harvest  home,"  wandering  Bedou- 
ins pitch  their  tents,  or  miserable  Arabs  toil  in 
fear  and  oppression  to  gain  a  scanty  and  preca- 
rious subsistence.  The  inhabitants  are  few,  poor 
and  wretched ;  a  dreadful  curse  seems  to  have 
descended  on  the  land,  and  to  have  riven  itself 
into  the  very  rocks  and  soil  of  the  country,  so 
that  no  one  now  living  there,  would  think  of 
applying  to  himself  the  language  of  the  text, — 
The  lines  are  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant  places,  I 
have  a  goodly  heritage.  And  to  no  country  that 


HERITAGE.  13 

I  have  seen  can  this  language  be  applied  with  so 
much  appropriateness  and  truth,  as  to  that  in 
which  God  has  given  us  our  home.  My  object 
in  the  sequel  of  this  discourse,  is  to  satisfy  you  of 
the  truth  of  this  asseition,  by  comparing,  in  sev- 
eral particulars,  the  advantages  enjoyed  in  this 
land  of  our  heritage,  with  those  possessed  by  the 
people  of  other  countries  where  it  was  my  lot  to 
travel  during  the  last  year. 

My  remarks  will  necessarily  take  a  wide  and 
somewhat  miscellaneous  range ;  and  it  cannot  be 
expected,  in  the  brief  limits  assigned  to  this  ser- 
vice, that  I  should  descend  to  any  thing  like 
minute  detail  or  extended  statement.  My  object 
will  be  gained  if,  by  the  general  views  I  may 
present,  I  can  awaken  in  your  bosoms  a  deeper 
gratitude  to  God  for  his  goodness,  and  leave  you 
at  the  close  under  a  stronger  and  more  vivid  im- 
pression of  the  truth,  that  the  lines  have  fallen 
to  you  in  pleasant  places,  and  that  you  have 
indeed  a  goodly  heritnge. 

We  may  ask,  at  the  outset,  what  are  the  great, 
essential   elements  of  a  prosperous  and  happy 
community  ?     They  are  a  healthy  climate,  a  pro- 
ductive   soil,   a    homogeneous   population,  free 
2* 


14  OUR     G  OODLY 

snstitutions,  equal  laws,  the  means  of  general 
education,  and  a  pure  religion.  Now  point  me, 
if  you  can,  to  any  country  on  the  globe,  where 
these  elements  exist  in  so  great  perfection,  or  in 
io  happy  combination,  as  in  this  land  of  our  her- 
itage ?  I  know  of  no  such  country  myself;  and 
after  all  the  means  of  observation  I  have  enjoyed, 
I  have  a  deeper  impression  than  ever,  that  no 
such  country  is  to  be  found,  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  I  know  indeed  that  ALL  good  things  are 
not  enjoyed  in  any  one  country  ;  they  are  not 
enjoyed  in  our  own.  But  they  exist  here,  I 
believe,  in  greater  abundance  and  perfection, 
than  any  where  else  in  the  world. 

1.  Survey  our  natural  resources.  If  the 
world  now  lay  vacant,  and  "  all  before  us  where 
to  choose,"  what  part  of  the  globe,  of  equal  extent, 
would  you  prefer  to  the  United  States?  Our  ter- 
ritory is  of  great  extent,  capable  of  sustaining  a 
population  several  times  as  large  as  that  of  all 
Europe;  and  yet  without  being  crowded  together 
as  they  often  are  there,  in  dense  overgrown  fes- 
tering masses.  There  is  ample  room  in  our 
country,  for  the  industry,  enterprise  and  thrift  of 
our  spreading  population.  In  the  old  world  mul- 


HERITAGE.  15 

titudes  are  unemployed ;  there  is  no  field  spread 
out  to  cull  forth  their  energies  ;  either  there  ia  a 
want  of  territory,  or  a  want  of  encouragement  for 
industry  arfl  effort ;  and  idleness,  poverty,  and 
mendicity  are  the  consequences  ;  and  with  these, 
discontents,  crimes  and  frequent  revolts.  Here 
we  know  but  little  of  these  evils.  Industry  finds 
ready  employment  and  ample  reward  ;  and  intel- 
ligent enterprise  a  boundless  field  for  activity  and 
effort.  Our  climate,  it  is  true,  is  not  as  bland  as 
that  of  Italy,  nor  as  sunny  as  that  of  southern 
Greece,  and  many  parts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Syria; 
but  it  is  quite  as  favorable  for  nourishing  corpo- 
real and  intellectual  life.  No  where  have  I  seen 
people  of  finer  form,  or  firmer  muscle,  or  more 
vigorous,  active  frame,  than  in  these  northern 
climes  of  ours.  And  our  soil,  though  it  yields  us 
neither  the  cane  nor  the  coffee  tree,  nor  allows 
the  growth  either  of  the  vine,  the  fig,  the  olive  or 
the  orange,  is  still  sufficiently  fruitful  under  the 
hand  of  industry,  to  yield  an  abundant  supply  for 
all  our  wants.  It  is  not  the  richest  soil,  nor  the 
softest  climate  that  nourishes  the  happiest  and 
iruost  enterprising  population.  The  valley  of  the 
Nile  is  a  perfect  garden  for  richness  of  soil,  and 


16  OURGOODLY 

for  the  variety  and  abundance  of  its  productions; 
and  there  too  you  find  the  most  idle,  shiftless  and 
miserable  peasantry,  perhaps,  in  the  world.  And 
the  same,  substantially,  is  true  of  rWany  of  the 
most  fertile  parts  of  Southern  Europe,  and  Asia. 
We  have,  on  the  whole,  abundant  reason  to  be 
contented  with  the  austere  sky,  and  the  compara- 
tively hard,  unyielding  soil  of  this  our  New  Eng- 
land heritage.  They  have  produced  us  that  which 
would  not  spring  in  the  richest  gardens  of  the 
East.  The  compact  numbers  and  the  strength  ; 
the  general  intelligence,  virtue,  public  spirit, and 
thrift  which  characterize  our  population, — these 
are  the  products  we  boast,  and  they  are  such  as  are 
never  found  beneath  a  tropical  sky,  or  where  the 
earth  yields  her  fruits  as  it  were  spontaneously. 

'Man  is  the  nobler  growth  our  soil  supplies, 
And  souls  are  ripened  in  our  northern  skies.' 

But  if  we  take  a  wider  view  and  look  abroad 
over  the  vast  territory  embraced  in  our  country, 
we  find  every  variety  of  climate,  soil  and  produc- 
tion ;  and  for  pleasantness,  fertility,  and  abund- 
ance, not  surpassed  by  any  country  on  earth. 
Our  border  is  washed,  in  its  whole  extent,  by  the 


HERITAGE.  17 

broad  Atlantic,  and  indented  by  innumerable  bays 
and  harbors,  studded  with  hundreds  of  rising- cities 
and  towns ;  while  our  interior  is  intersected  by 
vast  navigable  rivers  and  lakes,  which,  for 
extent,  are  like  seas; — and  thus  our  whole  coun- 
try, embosoming  resources  immense,  and  as  yet 
but  partially  employed,  and  spreading  over  a  sur- 
face of  about  two  millions  of  square  miles,  furnishes 
as  De  Toque ville  has  well  said,  the  most  mag- 
nificent dwelling  place  for  man  that  is  to  be  found 
on  the  globe. 

And  then  for  beauty  and  grandeur  of  natural 
scenery,  I  must  say,  I  have  seen  nothing  which 
will,  on  the  whole,  compare  with  what  is  exhib- 
ited in  many  parts  of  my  own  country.  The 
mountains  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor  are  admired, 
and  they  are  indeed  interesting  for  their  wild, 
ragged,  precipitous  appearance.  Holding  up 
their  bald,  naked,  dreary  aspect  to  the  sky,  they 
strike  us  for  the  novelty  of  their  look,  and  for  the 
historical  associations  connected  with  many  of 
them.  But  there  are  mountainous  scenes  in  our 
own  country,  and  even  in  our  own  New  England, 
which  will  vie  with  any  thing  of  the  kind  I  saw 
in  the  East.  And  for  rivers,  and  valleys,  and 


18  OtJRGOODLY 

wide,  extended  plains,  the  old  world  furnishes 
nothing  that  will  compare  with  our  own,  either 
for  extent,  or  beauty,  or  magnificence. 

The  scenery  around  Constantinople,  including 
the  sea  of  Marmora,  the  Bosphorus  and  its  envi- 
rons, is  indeed  of  surpassing  interest.  I  never 
beheld  any  thing  more  so.  As  you  sail  up  the 
sea  of  Marmora  and  turn  round  Seraglio  point,  a 
scene  of  enchantment  seems  to  open  on  your 
view.  On  the  left  is  Constantinople  proper,  built 
on  seven  hills  and  crowned  with  an  equal  number 
of  royal  mosques,  with  their  lofty  domes  and  grace- 
ful minarets,  topped  with  gilded  crescents ;  and 
towers  and  palaces  filling  the  vision.  On  the 
right  is  Scutari,  rising  gradually  from  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  skirted  in  its  rear 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  by  a  dark  forest  of 
cypresses,  marking  the  principal  burying  ground 
of  the  Turks  ;  while  far  off  in  the  distance,  tower 
the  mountains  of  Asia  Minor,  backed  by  Olym- 
pus, who  lifts  his  snow-capped  head  with  hoary 
"majesty  above  a  breast  of  clouds.  In  front  are 
Galata  and  Pera,  situated  on  an  eminence,  rising 
abruptly  from  the  water,  and  overlooking  the 
harbor  and  the  city ;  while  the  beautiful  Bospho- 


HERITAGE.  19 

rus  is  seen  stretching  away  towards  the  Black  sea 
and  lined  on  each  side  with  towns  and  villages, 
and  numerous  palaces  and  kiosks  of  the  Sultan 
and  high  officers  of  state.  Around  you  is  the 
shipping  of  various  nations,  displaying  their  dif- 
ferent flags,  and  hundreds  of  graceful  caiques, 
gliding  in  every  direction  through  the  water,  as 
if  impelled  by  instinct;  while  the  Golden  Horn, 
the  most  spacious  and  beautiful  harbor  in  the 
world,  as  it  winds  around  the  city,  and  loses  itself 
in  the  distance,  displays  before  you  the  Turkish 
navy  and  arsenals  in  grand  and  imposing  array. 
The  whole  scene  is  one  of  gorgeous  and  almost 
fairy  appearance. 

But  there  are  two  grand  defects  which  mar  and 
spoil  the  beauty  of  this,  and  in  general,  all  the 
scenery  in  the  East.  The  first  is,  it  is  outward, 
merely  external.  The  moment  you  enter  the 
city,  and  towns,  and  mingle  with  the  people,  the 
charm  vanishes.  You  find  yourself  in  the  midst 
of  nairow  dirty  streets,  surrounded  with  filth, 
poverty  and  miserable  degradation.  The  other 
defect  is,  the  entire  absence  of  what  I  call  moral 
scenery.  There  are  no  Christian  churches,  send- 
ing their  spires  towards  heaven  and  assembling 


20 


OUR     GOODLY 


the  people  for  a  pure  worship ;  there  are  no 
schools,  no  institutions  of  learning,  no  free, 
happy,  intelligent  population  ;  but  ignorance, 
superstition,  oppression  and  wrong,  meet  you  on 
every  side.  Ascend  any  elevation  in  the  vicinity 
of  Boston,  or  on  the  banks  of  our  own  river,  or  on 
the  shores  o,f  the  Hudson ;  and  you  have  spread 
out  before  you  a  scene,  which  if  not  in  all  respects 
so  imposing  in  its  natural  aspect,  is,  on  the  whole, 
far  more  interesting  and  glorious  than  all  the 
East  can  show  ;  and  it  is  so  on  account  of  the 
superior  intellectual  and  moral  associations.  You 
behold  in  the  landscape  spread  out  before  you, 
hundreds  of  happy  villages  and  towns,  a  free 
intelligent  population,  and  schools  and  churches 
and  public  edifices  of  various  kinds,  and  all  the 
countless  privileges  and  blessings  of  civilization 
and  Christianity.  It  is  these,  after  all,  which 
impart  the  chief  interest  to  a  country;  and  in 
this  view  we  may  emphatically  say,  the  lines 
have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places ;  yea,  we 
have  a  goodly  heritage. 

2.  Our  position  in  reference  to  other  nations, 
is  one  of  great  and  very  distinguishing  advantage. 
Removed  at  a  distance  from  the  involved,  jealous, 


HERITAGE.  21 

expensive,  and  easily  disturbed  policy  of  the 
European  states,  we  are  left,  unchecked  and 
unrestrained,  to  pursue  our  own  system  of  gov- 
ernment, to  mature  and  perfect  our  own  institu- 
tions, and  work  out  our  own  destiny.  The  three 
united  continents  of  the  old  world  do  not  contain 
a  single  spot,  where  any  grand  scheme  of  human 
improvement,  like  that  which  is  going  forward  in 
this  country,  could  be  attempted,  with  any  pros- 
pect of  success,  because  there  is  no  spot  safe  from 
foreign  interference.  Every  government  in 
Europe  and  in  Asia  watches  with  a  jealous  eye 
the  movements  of  every  other  government;  and 
while  the  smaller  states  are  continually  thwarted 
and  controlled  in  their  policy,  by  the  interference 
and  intrigues  of  the  larger,  there  is  not  one  of 
them,  that  can  put  forth  a  movement  towards 
freedom,  or  a  change  in  the  existing  state  of  things 
for  a  better,  but  thousands  of  bayonets  at  once 
bristle  around  the  discontented  territory,  and  put 
down  the  rising  spirit  of  reform.  Hence  large 
standing  armies  are  kept  up  in  all  the  countries 
of  Europe  and  of  the  East.  France  has  a  stand- 
ing army  at  this  moment  of  four  hundred  thou- 
3 


22  OUR     GOODLY 

sand  men.*  Russia  has  a  larger  number.  Eng- 
land has  ninety  thousand,  at  home  and  abroad, 
besides  her  navy.  Belgium  has  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand,  and  Prussia  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand.  Prussia  is  literally 
a  nation  of  soldiers — every  young  man  being 
obliged  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  to  enter  the 
army  and  serve  three  years  uninterruptedly, 
without  substitute,  and  then,  occasionally,  for  a 
series  of  years  more.  All  Europe  is  filled  with 
soldiers,  and  so  is  Turkey  and  Syria.  In  trav- 
elling you  meet  armed  men  and  the  materials  of 
war  every  where,  and  you  can  imagine  better 
than  I  can  describe,  what  effect  this  cultivation 
and  display  of  the  war  spirit  must  have  on  the 
general  character  of  the  people  and  state  of  society. 
In  this  country,  we  have  in  all,  about  seven 
thousand  men  in  our  national  army,  stationed  at 
different  points,  chiefly  for  purposes  of  police,  and 
the  protection  of  our  frontiers.  And  yet  with 
this  handful  of  men,  scattered  hundreds  of  miles 
from  each  other,  in  far  distant  sections  of  our 
land,  we  are  much  more  secure  against  internal 

*  There  are  constantly  in  Paris  about  sixty  thousand  troops, 
and  many  more  in  its  immediate  vicinity. 


HERITAGE.  &3 

insurrection,  and  foreign  invasion,  than  any 
country  in  Europe  or  the  East.  Behind  the 
mighty  veil  of  waters  on  one  side,  and  with  no 
neighboring  power  in  any  quarter  to  disturb  or 
make  us  afraid,  we  can  hear,  without  alarm,  of 
the  jealousies  and  strifes,  and  of  the  revolutions 
and  convulsions  that  shake  the  nations  of  the  old 
world,  and  go  on  enlarging  our  cities,  extending 
our  commerce,  multiplying  our  manufactures, 
and  filling  our  land  with  the  blessings  of  know- 
ledge, religion,  peace,  and  general  happiness. 
Our  position  then  in  relation  to  the  other  nations 
of  the  earth,  is  one  of  immense  importance.  It 
is  better  for  our  safety,  and  for  the  success  of  our 
institutions,  than  the  most  powerful  army  or  the 
strongest  wall  drawn  round  our  entire  territory. 

3.  Notice  next  our  institutions,  civil,  literary 
and  religious.  These  are  all  of  the  most  free 
and  popular  character ;  and  under  their  wide- 
spread influence  our  people  enjoy  a  measure  of 
safety  and  happiness,  and  of  general  intellectual 
and  moral  advancement,  which  falls  to  the  lot  of 
no  other  people  on  earth.  There  are,  I  know, 
many  and  great  evils  in  our  social  slate.  Our 
fiery  party  spirit,  our  corrupt  elections,  our  grasp- 


24  OUR     GOODLY 

ing  avarice,  our  reckless  ambition,  our  oppression 
and  slavery,  our  bad  faith  and  repudiation  of  just 
obligations,* — these  are  evils  of  great  magnitude ; 

*  When  one  hears  the  evils  here  referred  to  spoken  of  abroad, 
and  tauntingly,  as  they  often  are,  he  feels  them  keenly ;  they 
make  him  hang  his  head.  And  yet  there  is  not  a  country  in 
Europe  entitled  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  us,  on  the  ground  of 
being  free  from  them.  Party  spirit  is  quite  as  unprincipled  and 
reckless  in  France  and  England,  as  it  is  with  us.  In  respect 
to  corruption  and  bribery  in  elections,  we  are  as  yet  but  mere 
novices  in  these  bad  practices  as  compared  with  either  of  the 
countries  just  named.  For  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  Parliament 
to  spend  fifteen,  twenty,  thirty  thousand  pounds  to  secure  his 
election,  is,  or  was  quite  a  common  affair  in  England,  and  the 
practice  is  openly  justified  by  public  sentiment.  As  for  slavery" 
it  is  evil,  only  evil,  continually, — an  unspeakable  dishonor  to 
our  country,  and  a  dreadful  curse  to  our  institutions.  No  one 
should  ever  offer  the  least  apology  for  it,  but  do  all  he  can  for 
its  removal.  The  doctrine  of  "  repudiation,"  upon  which  the 
changes  have  been  rung  throughout  Europe,  to  our  great  dis- 
credit, it  is  but  right  to  say,  has  found  very  few  advocates  in 
this  country.  It  has  been  openly  and  pointedly  rebuked  by  all 
the  leading  public  presses  in  the  land,  as  a  crime  and  a  villany 
never  to  be  tolerated.  And  though  this  odious  doctrine  has 
been  extensively  represented  by  foreigners,  as  the  crime  and 
disgrace  of  our  whole  country,  it  has  in  fact  been  avowed 
and  acted  upon,  but  by  a  single  state,  (Mississippi)  and  that 
in  the  case  of  a  loan  which  the  Legislature  of  that  state  be- 
lieved to  have  been  fraudulently  contracted.  A  few  of  the 


HERITAGE.  25 

and  were  it  not  for  the  many  redeeming  qualities 
in  our  system,  might  well  make  us  tremble  for  the 
future.  But  making  all  proper  allowance  for  the 
evils  of  our  social  state,  where  will  you  go  to  find 
a  better?  No  slate  of  society  is  perfect  in  this 
world.  Ours  is  not  perfect.  But  where,  I  ask 
again,  will  you  find  a  betler  ?  If  you  go  to  Tur- 
key, you  would,  it  is  true,  get  rid  of  the  incon- 
veniences of  frequent,  popular  elections.  The 
Sultan  would  relieve  you  of  that  burden,  for  there 
he  alone  appoints  to  office  ;  there,  as  a  subject, 
you  would  hold  your  possessions  and  your  per- 
sonal liberty  by  the  will  of  a  Pasha  or  the  Grand 
Seignior ;  and  if  you  were  suspected  of  having  a 
little  too  much  property,  measures  would  be  found 
to  relieve  you  of  a  part  or  the  whole  of  it,  by 
squeezing  it  from  you,  as  it  is  called,  or  by 

other  states  have  temporarily  failed  to  meet  their  engage- 
ments,— an  evil  deeply  to  be  regretted,  for  this,  among  other 
reasons,  that  it  sadly  dishonors  our  free  institutions  in  the  view 
of  foreigners,  and  tends  mightily  to  uphold  the  advocates  of 
arbitrary  power.  I  always  took  the  ground,  when  conversing 
abroad  on  the  subject,  that  every  dollar,  both  of  principal  and 
interest,  would  finally  be  paid ;  a  conviction  which  has  been 
continually  gaining  strength  since  my  return  to  my  country. 

3* 


26  OURGOODLY 

dropping  your  head  at  the  door  of  your  own 
house.  In  France,  out  of  thirty-three  millions  of 
people,  only  about  two  hundred  thousand  persons 
have  the  right  of  suffrage  ;  not  one  elector  to  one 
hundred  and  sixty  of  the  population  ;  and  there, 
half  the  population  cannot  read,  and  more  than 
half  cannot  write.  In  England,  the  electoral  fran- 
chise has,  since  the  Reform  Bill  was  passed,  been 
somewhat  extended,  but  is  still  extremely  lim- 
ited ;  confined  to  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
people.  But  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  gov- 
ernment there  is  more  pure,  or  elections  less 
controlled  by  bribery  and  fraud,  or  the  mass  of 
the  people  more  intelligent,  contented  and  happy, 
than  in  your  own  country.  If  you  wish  to  get 
rid  of  the  fickleness  of  popular  government,  and 
live  under  one  more  stable  and  firm,  you  may  be 
gratified  to  your  hearts  content,  by  removing  to 
Austria,  or  to  the  Pope's  dominions,  or  best  of  all, 
to  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  or  of  Naples.  In  the 
capital  of  this  last  kingdom,  out  of  three  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  people,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  know  absolutely  nothirTg  of  letters,  and 
schools  are  prohibited  by  law,  and  gross  supersti- 
tion and  beggary  and  misery  reign  on  every  side. 


HERITAGE.  27 

You  may  find,  in  many  parts  of  the  old  world,  a 
more  quiet  and  settled  state  of  public  affairs  than 
is  enjoyed  in  your  own  country;  but  with  this 
advantage,  if  it  be  one,  you  must  take  despotism 
in  all  its  haughtiness,  oppression  and  crimes ;  and 
church  establishments,  with  all  practicable  degrees 
of  intolerance  and  other  abuses,  from  Rome  down 
to  the  Church  of  England  and  the  Scotch  Kirk — 
all  sufficiently  illiberal  and  oppressive  towards 
dissenters.  And  with  these  no  slight  inconven- 
iences^ you  must  live  where  there  is  no  system  of 
common  schools,  as  in  your  own  country, — this 
applies  especially  to  England — and  no  colleges 
accessible  to  all  the  people,  but  only  to  certain 
privileged  classes;  and  no  broad  open  field  of 
enterprise  where  talents  of  every  grade  and  every 
calling  may  find  free  scope  and  full  employ- 
ment. No,  my  friends,  the  privileges  here  ad- 
verted to,  are  no  where  so  generally  and  so  per- 
fectly enjoyed  as  in  our  land.  This  is  the  home 
of  liberty.  Here  is  enjoyed  freedom  of  thought 
and  action.  Here  the  mind  has  room  and  motive 
for  expansion  and  activity.  Here  the  field  of 
honorable  industry,  and  enterprise  is  open  to  all ; 
the  means  of  knowledge  and  religion  are  widely 


28  OURGOQDLY 

diffused  among  the  people,  cind  rarely  indeed, 
especially  in  this  part  of  our  country,  is  an  indi- 
vidual to  be  found  who  cannot  read  and  write, 
and  thus  have  access  to  the  multiplied  sources  of 
information  around  him. 

There  is  room  in  our  country  for  that  class  of 
society  called  the  people;  the  middling  class,  the 
owners,  the  freeholders  of  the  soil,  the  nerve,  the 
sinew  and  strength  of  a  country.  In  the  old  world 
such  a  class  can  hardly  be  said  to  exist.  There,  it 
is  the  nobility  and  the  populace  ;  the  aristocracy 
and  the  common  herd  ;  and  what  the  populace 
is,  whether  in  Asia  or  Europe,  it  is  hardly  pos- 
sible for  any  one  to  conceive,  who  has  not  seen 
them  in  their  extreme  ignorance,  degradation  and 
poverty.  This  debased,  abject,  dark  minded 
mass,  are  the  great  strength  of  despotic  and 
priestly  power.  They  cannot  sympathize  with 
any  intelligent  scheme  of  reform  or  revolution; 
and  exist,  to  a  great  extent,  in  what  may  almost 
without  a  figure,  be  called  the  cattle-state. 

No  where  else,  I  believe  in  the  world,  is  woman 
admitted  to  her  proper  place  in  society,  or  treated 
with  so  much  honor  and  respect,  as  in  this  coun- 
try. In  Turkey  she  is  shut  up  in  the  Harem, 


HERITAGE.  29 

and  excluded  from  all  social  and  public  inter- 
course with  the  other  sex.  In  Syria  she  is  a 
beast  of  burden,  a  slave.  In  Italy,  Switzerland 
and  other  parts  of  Europe,  as  I  have  often  seen, 
she  labors  promiscuously  in  the  fields,  and  on  the 
highways,  and  in  all  kinds  of  toil,  with  men,  and 
exhibits  all  the  marks  of  degradation  and  coarse- 
ness which  might  be  expected  to  result  from  such 
employment.  How  different  is  it  here  1  Educa- 
ted, intelligent,  refined,  filling  her  own  proper 
sphere,  and  discharging  her  own  proper  duties, 
she  is  treated  as  a  companion,  counsellor  and 
friend,  and  her  influence  is  widely  and  powerfully 
felt  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  This  is  a  gieat 
matter,  and  it  is  one  of  the  many  rich  and  pecul- 
iar blessings  which  flow  to  us  from  our  free 
institutions. 

4.  I  may  notice,  in  passing,  our  homogeneous- 
ness  of  population  and  language,  as  constituting 
an  advantage,  in  our  favor,  of  great  importance. 
We  are  substantially  one  people,  sprung  from 
one  stock,  and  that  the  Saxon  stock,  by  far  the 
most  bold,  intelligent,  free,  enterprising  and  fast 
growing,  of  any  on  earth.  Travel  where  you  will 
in  our  country,  you  find  yourself  among  essen- 


30  OURGOODLY 

tially  the  same  people,  speaking1  the  same  lan- 
guage, having  the  same  general  habits  and  man- 
ners, and  loving  and  cherishing  the  same  institu- 
tions. Here  are  no  barriers  to  intercourse  and 
influence,  growing  out  of  diversity  of  language, 
or  old  established  castes  and  privileged  orders  of 
society.  Strike  a  chord  in  one  part  of  our  coun- 
try, and  you  cause  a  vibration  through  every 
other.  Write  an  article  for  a  newspaper,  or  pub- 
lish a  book  worthy  of  notice,  and  it  will  circulate, 
in  a  few  weeks,  through  the  twenty-six  states  of 
the  Union,  and  be  read  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  all  parts  of  the  land.  Or  set  in  moiion  any 
good  influence,  and  it  at  once  draws  around  it 
sympathizing  hearts,  and  goes  on  producing  its 
results,  on  a  constantly  widening  sphere,  from 
generation  to  generation.  The  importance  of 
this  peculiarity  in  our  situation,  I  never  felt  as  I 
did,  when  traveling  abroad.  In  the  East,  society 
exists  in  a  broken,  fragmentary  state.  It  is  com. 
posed  of  people  of  many  different  nations,  speak- 
ing different  languages,  and  having  different 
manners,  interests  arid  religions.  Enter  the  city 
of  Smyrna, — and  the  same  is  true  of  other  large 
eastern  cities — and  you  would  think  you  had 


HERITAGE.  31 

around  you  samples  of  all  the  confused  people 
and  tongues  of  Babel.  In  Constantinople,  it  is 
said,  there  are  fifteen  languages  spoken  by  large 
masses  of  people  residing  there  ;  and  on  board 
the  steamer  in  which  I  went  from  Smyrna  to 
Beirut,  there  were  persons  from  twenty-one  dif- 
ferent nations.  This  creates  great  impediments 
in  the  way  of  intercourse  and  influence,  and  is 
indeed  one  of  the  most  discouraging  elements  in 
the  organization  of  Eastern  sociely.  There  is  no 
oneness  of  language,  of  character,  interest  and 
aim,  among  the  people.  They  are  divided  and 
kept  asunder  by  innumerable  repellent  influen- 
ces, and  nothing  can  bring  them  together,  in 
intercourse  and  cooperation,  but  the  prevalence 
among  them  of  the  pure  spirit  of  the  gospel, 
and  this  meets  with  a  formidable  barrier  in  the 
heterogenous  character  of  the  people  just  allu- 
ded to. 

We  have,  it  is  true,  people  from  different 
nations  in  our  own  country.  But  they  are  com- 
paratively few  ;  they  are  lost  in  the  mass  of  the 
native  born  inhabitants;  and  if  we  are  wise  and 
just  to  give  them  our  knowledge  and  our  religion* 
they  will  soon  inelt  into  the  common  mass,  and 


6&  OUR     GOODLY 

their  influence  and  their  interests  will  be  iden- 
tified with  those  of  our  own  people. 

5.  As  another  peculiar  advantage  of  our  coun- 
try, I  mention  our  essential  harmony  of  political 
opinions.  I  may  not,  in  this  remark,  carry  along 
with  me  the  assent  of  my  hearers.  But  it  is  I 
think  founded  in  truth.  We  have  parties,  I 
know,  and,  too  often,  they  war  upon  each  other 
with  well  nigh  as  much  earnestness  and  zeal,  if 
not  with  as  much  good  temper,  as  our  fathers 
exhibited  in  the  achievement  of  our  independ- 
ence ;  and  sometimes,  when  witnessing  the  con- 
flict, and  the  various  tactics  resorted  to  by  the 
combatants,  one  cannot  but  wish,  that  they  would 
stop  and  inquire  what  they  are  quarrelling  about — 
a  question,  I  am  sure,  which  many  of  them  at 
least,  on  both  sides,  would  be  quite  unable  to 
answer. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  matters  about  which  the 
parties  in  our  country  differ  are  of  no  importance. 
Some  of  them  I  know  are  of  much  importance, 
and  I  hold  my  own  views  respecting  them.  Still 
they  are  not,  on  either  side,  fundamental.  They 
respect  measures,  not  first  principles ;  courses  of 
policy,  not  the  form  of  our  government,  or  the 


HERITAGE.  33 

spirit  of  our  constitution.  We  are  not  all  of  one 
political  creed,  do  not  all  vote  alike  at  the  polls  ; 
but  we  are  all  republicans ;  the  friends  of  popular 
liberty  and  of  free  institutions  ;  and  any  man  or 
class  of  men,  who  should  avow  sentiments  hostile 
to  these  instiUitions,  or  wish  essentially  to  change 
the  form  of  our  government,  would  at  once  be 
visited  with  the  indignation  of  all  parties. 

But  it  is  not  so  in  Europe.  Theie  politics  are 
divided  on  fundamental  principles  ;  gulfs  separate 
them,  as  wide  as  democracy  is  from  monarchy, 
and  legitimacy  or  loyalty  from  rebellion.  In 
France,  for  example,  there  are  legitimists ;  the 
friends  of  Louis  Philippe  ;  and  the  republicans. 
The  success  of  either  of  the  contending  parties 
would  be,  not  the  change  of  the  policy  of  admin- 
istration, but  the  overthrow  of  the  government, 
and  anarchy  and  bloodshed  would  be  involved  in 
the  process.  So  of  England.  There  are  parties 
there,  which,  if  they  should  gain  the  ascendency, 
would  subvert  the  whole  established  order  of 
things,  and  introduce  an  entirely  new  form  of 
government  and  administration.  The  same  is 
true  of  most  of  the  governments  of  Europe.  They 
are  not  well  adapted  to  the  progress  of  society. 
4 


54  OURGOODLY 

They  involve  great  abuses  and  oppressions,  and 
large  masses  of  the  people  are  ready  for  revolu- 
tion. Italy  would  be  revolutionized  to-morrow, 
and  every  government  there  overturned,  if  Aus- 
trian vigilance  and  power  did  not  prevent.  The 
ground  heaves  fearfully  in  many  pai^  of  the  con- 
tinent, and  the  rumbling  of  the  earthquake  is 
heard  ever  and  anon,  giving  direful  portent  of 
disaster  and  change  in  the  breaking  up  of  old 
institutions,  and  the  coming  in  of  a  new  order  of 
things. 

How  different  is  the  state  of  things  in  this 
country  !  Our  people  wish  for  no  change  in  fun- 
damental principles,  no  subverting  of  the  consti- 
tution and  foim  of  our  government;  with  these 
they  are  well  satisfied  and  desire  to  see  them  pre- 
served and  perpetuated  to  the  latest  posterity ; 
and  if  the  infatuating,  blinding  spirit  of  party 
could  be  allayed,  and  a  little  of  concession  and 
candor  be  exercised  on  both  sides,  there  would, 
I  fully  believe,  be  not  only  harmony,  as  to  the 
essential  principles  of  our  government,  but  har- 
mony also,  as  to  the  measures  which  should  be 
adopted  in  administering  the  government,  and 
promoting  the  general  prosperity  of  the  nation. 


HERITAGE.  35 

6.  Traditional  influence  in  our  country  is  small, 
and  what  there  is,  is  good.  Our  ancestors  were 
wise,  intelligent,  chrislian  men.  They  feared 
God  and  lived  for  posterity.  Far  in  advance  of 
the  age  to  which  they  belonged,  they  broke  away 
from  the  old,  corrupt,  oppressive  institutions  and 
usages  of  Europe,  and  came  here  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  a  new  order  of  society,  more  free,  more 
equal, 'more  just,  than  the  world  ever  before  saw. 
And  under  the  smiles  of  God's  favoring  prov- 
idence, their  undertaking  was  completely  suc- 
cessful. The  fruits  of  it  we  are  enjoying  at  this 
day,  and  they  are  wide  spread  and  abundant 
throughout  our  country.  We  feel  that  the  mem- 
ory of  our  fathers  is  blessed,  and  the  influence 
that  emanates  upon  us,  through  the  medium  of 
their  institutions  and  sentiments,  is  all  of  a  sal- 
utary, elevating,  ennobling  character.  We  are 
here  trammeled  wilh  no  hereditary,  prescriptive, 
time-hallowed  abuses.  We  have  no  arrogant 
nobiliiy ;  no  entailments;  no  hereditary  law- 
makers; no  established  church;  no  privileged 
class  of  clergy  or  laity  ;  in  fine,  none  of  the  feud- 
alism of  by-gone,  barbarous  ages.  The  world  has 
not  outlived  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  as  it 


36  OURGOODLY 

has  in  Europe.  The  traditions  and  usages  of  the 
dark  ages  hold  mighty  sway  in  the  old  world. 
There,  society,  in  regard  to  its  structure  and 
machinery,  is  extremely  complicated  ;  "  of  vari- 
ous dates,"  like  a  house  patched  and  altered  at 
sundry  times,  but  never  thoroughly  remodeled  or 
rebuilt,  so  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  genius  and 
progress  of  improvement.  Many  things,  foreign 
to  its  original  plan,  have  been  forced  in  by  cir- 
cumstances, as  light  and  the  popular  spirit,  or  the 
assertion  of  human  rights  have  advanced,  which 
are  like  new  cloth  upon  old  garments,  threaten- 
ing disastrous  rents.  Reform  in  such  a  state  of 
things  is  difficult  and  hazardous,  because  it  is  at 
the  same  time  revolutionary  and  subversive.  In 
England,  for  example,  there  are  several  single 
elements  in  the  social  state,  to  change  any  one 
of  which,  in  the  way  of  national  reform,  would 
be  deeply  revolutionary.  To  give  a  case,  the 
separation  of  church  and  state  would  change  the 
constitution  of  Parliament ;  itwould  overturn  the 
bench  of  bishops  in  the  house  of  Lords,  and 
sweep  away  whole  shoals  of  indolent,  pleasure- 
Bloving,  beneficed  clergy.  Abolish  entailments,  or 
the  law  of  primogeniture,  and  the  immense,  over- 


HERITAGE.  67 

grown  estates  of  the  nobles  and  the  privileged 
orders  would  change  hand.*,  and  the  house  of 
Lords  would  become  another  thing,  as  has  been 
the  case  in  France,  and  many  existing  relations 
in  society  would  be  broken  up.  These  great 
measures,  among  others,  seem  exceedingly  desir- 
able ;  and  yet  their  consequences  would  not  stop 
short  of  revolutionizing  the  entire  political  and 
social -fabric. 

In  our  country  the  case  is  entirely  different. 
The  frame  of  our  government  is  simple.  It  did 
not  grow  up  from  tradition  ;  it  is  not  the  product 
of  feudalism  or  of  the  dark  ages.  It  was  formed 
by  intelligent,  far-reaching,  patriotic  men,  chosen 
for  the  purpose  by  the  people,  and  acting  for  the 
people  in  the  whole  process  of  their  deliberations 
and  decisions.  Hence  the  simplicity,  plainness 
and  consistency  which  mark  our  constitution  of 
government,  and  which  render  it  so  comparatively 
easy  to  reform  any  abuse,  or  effect  any  change 
which  may  be  demanded  for  the  better  working 
of  the  whole.  Our  political  system  is  like  a  very 
simple  machine.  You  can  take  out  or  put  in  a 
wheel  without  stopping,  or  in  the  least  embar- 
rassing its  general  movements.  Whereas  the 
4* 


38  OURGOODLY 

European  systems  consist  of  so  many  thousand 
parts  and  are  all  so  interlocked  and  dove-tailed 
together,  that  to  remove  or  to  alter  any  one  part 
deranges  the  whole,  and  of  course  reform  must  be 
extremely  slow  and  difficult. 

In  our  system  too  of  distinct  states  and  minor 
communities,  instead  of  one  consolidated  general 
government,  we  enjoy  advantages  of  which,  I 
think,  we  are  by  no  means  duly  sensible.  The 
system  of  consolidated,  general  government  pre- 
vails throughout  Europe  and  the  Eastern  world. 
And  there  liberty  languishes  and  dies,  and  tyran- 
ny, oppression  and  wrong  find  their  proper  home. 
France  attempted  a  consolidated  Republic.  It 
became  a  hell,  the  fires  of  which  spread  over  all 
Europe,  and  it  cost  the  blood  of  many  millions  of 
her  people  to  extinguish  the  flame. 

In  our  country  the  powers  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment are  circumscribed,  confined  chiefly  to  the 
single  object  of  securing  the  common  rights,  and 
protection  of  the  several  states,  composing  the 
Union.  The  states  are,  in  fact,  the  only  real 
sovereignties  known  to  our  system.  And  here  in 
our  little  state  of  Connecticut,  safe  under  the 
broad  shield  of  the  Union,  we  are  free  to  pursue 


HERITAGE.  39 

whatever  system  of  legislation  or  internal  im- 
provement we  may  deem  best  adapted  to  promote 
the  general  prosperity  of  our  people.  Our  inter- 
ests are  all  under  our  eye  and  in  our  own  hands ; 
and  it  is  for  us,  as  a  state,  to  take  care  of  and  ad- 
vance them.  If  any  member  of  the  Union,  as 
South  Carolina,  or  Rhode  Island,  in  its  madness 
and  folly,  breaks  out  into  insurrection  and  rebell- 
ion, we  need  not  be  disturbed  by  it,  but  leave  the 
fire  to  be  extinguished  in  the  territory  where  it 
began. 

But  I  must  close.  And,  now  my  friends,  as  you 
look  over  this  good  land  in  which  you  dwell,  and 
survey  its  mighty  resources,  its  free  institutions, 
its  countless  blessings,  social,  civil,  literary  and 
religious,  which  pour  around  you  like  the  light  of 
heaven,  does  not  the  sentiment  rise  warm  and 
grateful  from  every  heart,— the  lines  are  fallen  to 
me  in  pleasant  places,  yea,  I  have  a  goodly 
heritage  ? 

And  is  not  gratitude  to  God  our  first  duty  in 
view  of  the  goodly  heritage  which  he  has  given 
us?  He  preserved  it  of  old  for  our  fathers;  he 
cast  out  the  heathen  and  gave  them  possession  of 
it;  he  enabled  them  to  plant  it  with  the  rich 


40  OURGOODLY 

germs  of  all  our  most  precious  institutions;  to 
defend  it  in  the  midst  of  wars  and  perils,  and  to 
transmit  it  to  us,  their  children,  as  at  this  day, 
an  inheritance,  richer  and  more  abundant  in  all 
the  blessings,  that  make  life  desirable  and  happy, 
than  is  enjoyed  by  any  other  people  under 
heaven.  All,  all  comes  to  us  from  the  kind  provi- 
clance  of  God.  How  natural  then  the  feeling, 
and  how  reasonable — what  shall  I  render  unto 
the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits'?  I  will  take  the  cup 
of  salvation  and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
I  will  pay  him  my  vows  of  thanksgiving  and 
praise  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people. 

This  is  our  first,  but  it  is  not  our  only  duty. 
Great  responsibility  lies  upon  us,  in  relation  to  the 
future.  The  rich  inheritance  which,  through  the 
toils  and  prayers  and  sufferings  of  our  fathers, 
God  has  transmitted  to  us,  their  descendants,  is 
not  for  us  alone.  We  ara  bound  in  gratitude  for 
the  past,  and  in  duty  to  the  future,  to  transmit  it 
to  our  posterity;  to  hand  it  down  unimpaired  to 
bless  those  who  are  to  come  after  us.  Many 
dangers,  it  cannot  be  concealed,  threaten  our 
prosperity.  I  may  not  attempt  to  enumerate 
them  now.  But  he  must  be  blind  and  insen- 


HERITAGE.  41 

sible  indeed,  who  feels  no  apprehension  at  the 
evils  which  are  working  themselves  into  our  social 
system,  corrupting  the  sources  of  power,  weaken- 
ing the  energies  of  government  and  making  its 
administration  more  and  more,  a  mere  instrument 
of  promoting  the  objects  of  party  strife  and  selfish 
ambition.  The  things  here  adverted  to  cannot,  it 
seems  to  me,  go  on  much  further,  without  sap- 
ping the  foundations  of  our  institutions  and  shiv- 
ering the  Union  to  atoms.  There  are  measures 
now  in  contemplation  by  some  of  our  politicians, 
which,  if  allowed  to  be  consummated,  must,  I 
greatly  fear,  bring  about  this  disastrous  result. 
There  are  already  in  our  social  system  as  many 
causes  of  division  and  disunion,  as  we  know 
well  how  to  get  along  with,  and  he  must  be  a  rash, 
inconsiderate  man,  to  say  nothing  worse,  who 
would  knowingly  add  to  these  jcauses.  One  can- 
not think  or  speak  with  patience,  of  extending 
the  slave  power  in  this  country,  of  strengthening 
the  slave  influence  in  our  general  government,  or 
of  perpetuating  that  accursed  influence  over  the 
free  states  of  the  North.  Bring  Texas  into  the  Un- 
ion; a  foreign  independent  state, — a  thing  never 
contemplated  by  our  constitution, — a  state  too  in 


42  OURGOODLY 

• 

which  slavery  is  sworn  to  be  eternal,  and  which 
is  designed,  as  a  great  mart,  to  be  filled  up  with 
human  cattle  from  the  South  !*  Why  should  that 
be  desired  1  Have  we  not  territory  enough  ? 
What  good  can  come  of  it  1  The  measure  is  evil, 
only  evil,  and  if  effected,  it  will  be  found  to  be  evil 
continually,!  fear,  until  we  are  destroyed.  May 
God  in  his  mercy  avert  from  us  so  great  a  calami- 
ty. However  divided  we  may  be  on  other  sub- 
jects, there  should  be  but  one  opinion  among  good 
men  on  this  subject;  and  no  measures  should  be 
left  unemployed  to  defeat  the  counsels  of  those 
who  may  wish  to  consummate  so  great  a  wicked- 
ness, or  bring  into  theUnion  so  terrible  an  element 
of  discord  and  dissolution.  Let  us  take  our 
country  as  it  is,  and  endeavor,  in  every  possible 
wiy,  to  make  and  to  keep  it  united,  prosperous 
and  happy.  The  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  us. 

*  The  measure  here  referred  to  has,  since  the  delivery  of  the 
discourse,  been  consummated,  in  so  far  as  the  approval  of  our 
general  government  is  concerned.  But  Texas  is  not  yet  a  part 
of  the  Union.  Possibly  a  kind  providence  may  yet  defeat  the 
counsels  of  our  rulers  and  prevent  a  connection  which,  we 
have  every  reason  to  apprehend,  will  draw  after  it  most  disas- 
trous consequences. 


HERITAGE.  43 

We  are  as  a  city  set  upon  a  hill.  Other  nations 
behold  and  wonder  and  imitate.  The  influence 
of  our  great  example  of  popular  institutions  and 
free  government  is  felt  to  the  ends  of  the  earlh  : 

O  •    ^>  •  ' 

and  if  successful  in  time  to  come,  as  it  has  been 
in  time  past,  it  will  rapidly  wake  up  a  spiiit  of 
reform  among  all  nations,  and  hasten  on  the 
reign  of  universal  freedom  and  justice  and  right. 
Never  did  the  desire  for  (he  growing  prosperity  of 
my  country  beat  so  strong  in  my  bosom  as  when 
I  was  traveling  in  foreign  lands.  There  I  saw 
and  felt  by  contrast  the  value  of  free  institutions, 
and  the  blessings  of  a  pure,  unfettered  chrisliani- 
ty.  I  saw  loo  how  our  movements  were  all 
watched  and  scanned ;  our  virtues  commended 
and  our  faults  blazoned  abroad.  It  is  true,  my 
friends,  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  us.  Our 
school  system,  in  Connecticut,  is  referred  to,  and 
commented  upon,  with  applause,  in  the  Bri(i:>h 
Parliament.  Our  Prison  discipline  is  discussed 
and  held  up  for  imitation  in  the  French  Chamber 
of  Deputies.  Our  free  form  of  government  and 
our  popular  institutions  are  known  and  talked  of 
in  Greece,  in  Constantinople  and  stiil  further 
East.  And  our  faults,  our  mobs,  our  bad  failb, 


44  OURGOODL'Sl 

our  repudiation  and  slavery  are  marked  and  pub- 
lished at  Naples,  in  a  little  miserable  government 
paper  that  sheds  only  darkness  upon  the  people. 
Let  us  see  to  it  then,  that  our  great  example  fail 
not,  and  that  all  the  influence  emanating  from  it 
be  good,  serving  to  cheer  and  to  guide  the  nations 
to  a  freer  and  happy  state.  Let  us  love  our  coun- 
try, our  whole  country,  and  not,  exclusively,  any 
one  party  in  it.  Let  us  pray  for  our  country.  It 
is  of  God  to  defend  and  prosper  us.  He  it  is  that 
setteth  up  and  plucketh  down ;  and  no  policy  or 
might  can  prevail  in  neglect  or  contempt  of  him. 
Let  us  admit  no  new  elements  of  discord  and  dis- 
union into  our  country,  and  put  out  the  old  ones 
as  fast  as  we  can.  Let  us  especially  send  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel,  the  means  of  knowledge 
and  religion  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  our  land,  as  the  great  means  of  our  safety 
and  prosperity. 

I  have  said,  and  I  repeat  the  remark  here,  as 
what  I  firmly  believe,  that  the  salvation  of  our 
country  is  the  hope  of  the  world.  If  we  fail  in 
our  great  experiment  of  free  institutions,  the  sun 
dial  of  time  will  go  back  for  centuries,  and  des- 
potism and  superstition  will  hold  a  grand  jubilee 


HERITAGE.  45 

over  all  the  world.  But  if  the  salvation  of  our 
country  is  the  hope  of  the  world,  it  is  equally  true, 
that  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible  is  the  hope  of 
our  country.  All  other  means  of  security  and 
prosperity  without  this  will  be  found  utterly  una- 
vailing. There  is  no  truth  in  morals  more  certain 
than  this,  that  a  Bible  Christianity  is  the  only 
palladium  of  a  free  government.  It  was  for  the 
want  of  this  grand, conservative  principle,  that  all 
the  republics  that  have  gone  before  us,  decayed 
and  died.  Let  all  then  who  truly  love  their  coun- 
try, who  prize  this  their  goodly  heritage,  and 
would  transmit  it  to  those  who  are  to  live  here 
when  they  are  gone,  see  to  it,  that  they  be  not 
wanting  in  faithful,  persevering  endeavors  to 
send  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible  into  all  the  wide 
spread,  destitute  portions  of  our  land.  America 
is  God's  last  dispensation  towards  our  world. 
This  act  passed,  the  scene  closes,  the  curtain  of 
time  drops,  and  the  glories  of  eternity  are  revealed. 
With  grateful  hearts  then,  my  friends,  retire 
from  the  house  of  God  to  your  homes  of  comfort, 
peace  and  plenty.  And  when  you  find  your- 
selves in  the  midst  of  your  families,  around  the 
festive  board,  spread  with  the  bounties  of  a  kind 
5 


46  OUR     GOODLY    HERITAGE, 

providence,  let  the  sentiment  rise  warm  and 
grateful  to  heaven — truly  the  lines  are  fallen  to 
us  in  pleasant  places ;  yea,  we  have  a  goodly 
heritage.  And  while  the  hand  of  God  is  thus 
acknowledged  in  your  blessings,  let  him  have 
this,  the  only  return  he  asks,  or  you  can  render, 
a  cheerful,  unreserved  consecration  of  all  to  his 
service  and  glory. 

Some  of  us  will  remember  to  day  loving  and 
beloved  ones  who  were  wont  to  be  with  us  on 
other  occasions  like  the  present,  but  now  are  here 
no  more.  Let  us  think  of  them,  as  engaged  in 
higher  and  nobler  services  of  thanksgiving  and 
praise  in  the  heavenly  world;  and  let  us  be  cheer- 
ed by  the  assurance  that  if  we  are  the  friends  of 
God.  the  time  is  not  distant  when  we  shall 
join  them  in  that  better  state  of  being,  and  sing 
forever  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb. — Unto 
him  that  loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in 
his  own  blood,  and  hatli  made  us  kings  and  priests 
unto  God  and  his  Father ;  to  him  be  glory  and 
dominion  forever  and  ever.  Amen. 


PAUL  ON  MAES  HILL. 


PAUL  ON  MARS  HILL. 


Then  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  Mars  Hill,  and  said,  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I 
perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious.  For  as  I  passed  by  and 
beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription, — To  THB 
UNKNOWN  GOD.  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him  declare  I 
unto  you. — ACTS  17 :  22,  23. 

No  man  ever  visited  Athens  with  such  feelings 
and  views,  or  left  such  impressions  on  the  minds 
of  its  inhabitants  as  did  the  Apostle  Paul.  He 
went  there  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  solitary 
one  among  dense  masses  of  mad  idolaters,  hav- 
ing the  knowledge  of  the  only  living  and  true 
God,  and  able  to  point  out  the  way  of  life  re- 
vealed in  the  gospel.  His  visit  appears  to  have 
been  rather  accidental  and  transient,  occasioned 
by  the  persecution  he  had  received  from  his 
enemies  at  Berea,  and  lasted  only  a  few  weeks. 
But  his  time,  while  there,  instead  of  being  spent 
in  surveying  the  wonders  of  genius  and  art 
with  which  the  city  abounded,  was  wholly  oc- 
cupied in  his  favorite  work  of  publishing  the 
5* 


50  P  A  U  L     O  N 

gospel,  and  striving  to  turn  the  people  from  dumb 
idols  to  the  service  of  the  true  God. 

To  give  some  order  to  our  discourse,  let  us, 

I.  Consider  the  circumstances  and  conduct  of 
Paul  while  at  Athens. 

II.  The  situation  and  character  of  the  audi- 
ence to  whom  he  preached  on  Mars  Hill. 

III.  The  principal  topics  of  the  discourse  he 
delivered  on  that  occasion. 

IV.  The  effects  produced  by  it. 

I.  Though  Athens,  when  visited  by  the  Apos- 
tle, had  lost  something  of  its  former  grandeur,  it 
was  still  the  light  of  Greece  and  the  glory  of  the 
gentile  world.  It  was  the  seat  of  art,  of  learning, 
of  eloquence,  and  of  refinement  and  luxury  in 
all  their  most  inviting  and  captivating  forms. 
The  city  was  of  great  extent,  surrounded  by  a 
massive  wall  of  hewn  stone,  sixteen  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, and  so  wide  that  carriages  could 
easily  pass  each  other  on  the  top.  Within  this 
vast  area,  was  concentrated  all  that  could  please 
the  eye,  gratify  the  taste,  excite  the  imagination, 
or  minister  instruction  and  improvement  to  the 
mind.  In  the  midst  was  the  Acropolis,  the  glory 
of  Grecian  art,  the  depository  of  the  most  splen- 
did productions  of  human  genius,  in  painting, 


MARSHILL.  51 

sculpture  and  architecture,' — crowned  with  the 
glorious  Parthenon  and  several  other  temples  of 
surpassing  magnificence  and  beauty,  the  ruins  of 
which  continue,  to  this  day,  to  excite  the  admi- 
ration and  wonder  of  all  that  behold  them. 

Thither  scholars,  and  statesmen,  and  men  of 
opulence  and  leisure  were  accustomed  to  resort 
from  every  part  of  the  world  for  the  gratification 
of  their  curiosity,  or  for  perfecting  themselves  in 
the  various  departments  of  knowledge  which  they 
wished  to  cultivate.  Paul's  visit  there  was  for  a 
higher  and  a  nobler  object ;  and  it  does  not  appear 
from  any  thing  contained  in  the  sacred  narrative, 
that  he  spent  any  time  in  surveying  the  various 
monuments  of  art,  the  remains  of  which  are  so  in- 
teresting to  travelers  at  the  present  day.  Not  that 
he  was  indifferent  to  these  objects,  or  was  incapable 
of  duly  appreciating  their  magnificence  and  splen- 
dor. Paul  was  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  taste. 
But  he  was  absorbed  in  matters  of  higher  interest. 
His  heart  was  influenced  with  the  love  of  Christ; 
his  eye  was  fixed  on  the  grandeur  of  eternity,  and 
he  was  actuated,  every  where  and  supremely,  with 
the  one  great  purpose  of  making  known  the  power 
and  glory  of  Christ,  that  so  he  might  be  an 
instrument  of  salvation  to  perishing  men.  Hence, 


52  P  A  U  L     O  N 

the  first  thing  we  hear  of  him,  after  his  arrival  in 
Athens,  was,  that  his  spirit  was  stirred  in  him, 
when  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry. 
He  was  moved  with  grief  and  indignation  to  see 
how  the  one  only  living  and  true  God  was  forgot- 
ten and  despised  in  the  midst  of  this  city  of  science 
and  refinement,  and  the  inhabitants  prostituting 
their  noble  powers  in  the  worship  of  dumb  idols. 
And  true  to  the  great  purpose  of  his  life,  he  set 
himself  forthwith  to  the  work  of  reformation,  and 
began  to  dispute,  or  to  reason  with  all  whom  he 
met,  on  the  great  subject  of  truth  and  duty,  of 
religion  and  salvation.  He  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  his  stand  in  the  market  place,  or  place  of 
public  resort,  and  to  lift  up  his  voice  in  the  hear- 
ing of  the  multitude  in  favor  of  God  and  against 
their  idolatry.  He  soon  produced  a  stir  around 
him.  His  deep  seriousness,  his  bold  declarations 
of  truth,  his  entire  sincerity  and  earnestness, 
together  with  the  weight  of  argument  and  faith- 
ful appeal  which  attended  every  thing  he  said, 
would  not  allow  those  who  heard  him  to  be  indif- 
ferent to  his  discourses,  or  treat  with  neglect  his 
solemn  exhortations  and  warnings.  Accordingly, 
he  soon  drew  around  him,  not  only  the  common 
people,  but  men  of  distinction,  and  philosophers 


MARSHILL.  53 

of  various  sects.  At  first,  it  would  seem,  they 
began  to  treat  him  with  levity  and  ridicule,  call- 
ing him  a  babler,  a  scatterer  of  vain  words  ;  and 
not  being  able  to  comprehend  his  doctrine,  or 
disposed  to  misrepresent  it,  they  charged  him 
with  being  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods,  because 
he  preached  unto  them  Jesus  and  the  resurrec- 
tion. This  was  a  serious  matter,  as  the  charge 
involved  a  crime,  which,  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  state,  was  punishable  with  death.  They 
therefore  took  Paul,  whether  on  the  direct  charge 
of  blasphemy,  or  only  that  he  might  more  fully 
explain  his  views  and  be  examined  before  the 
proper  judges,  does  not  appear;  but  they  took 
him  and  brought  him  to  the  court  of  Areopagus, 
before  whom  cases  affecting  the  xeligion  of  the 
state  were  wont  to  be  tried. 

This  high  court  of  Athens  was  held  on  the  top 
of  Mars  Hill,  on  a  rocky  space,  open  to  the  sky, 
and  so  near  the  edge  of  the  craggy,  precipitous 
face  of  the  hill,  that  no  building  or  obstacle  of 
any  kind  could  have  intervened  to  prevent  the 
view  around,  either  of  the  city  or  the  Acropolis. 
Up  this  hill  Paul  was  conducted  from  the  Agora 
or  market  place,  where  he  had  been  disputing,  by 
a  flight  of  steps,  cut  in  the  rock,  and  which 


54  P  A  U  L     O  N 

remain  to  the  present  time.  As  he  ascended  into 
the  presence  of  his  judges,  surrounded  by  the 
Epicureans  and  Stoics  who-had  encountered  him, 
and  a  multitude  of  listeners,  anxious  to  hear  his 
defense,  Paul,  we  cannot  doubt,  rejoiced  in 
heart,  at  the  opportunity  given  him  by  his  divine 
Lord,  of  declaring  his  love  for  his  name,  and  of 
testifying  against  the  superstition  and  idolatry  of 
the  city.  He  knew  who  it  was  that  had  said, — 
When  they  bring  you  before  magistrates  and 
councils,  take  no  thought  how  or  what  ye  shall 
speak,  for  it  shall  be  given  you  in  that  same  hour 
what  ye  shall  say.  Confiding  in  his  protection 
and  aid  who  had  spoken  these  precious  words, 
the  Apostle  calmly  mounts  into  the  august  pres- 
ence of  his  judges,  and  stands  unmoved  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  and  mixed  assembly.  Let  us, 

II.  In  the  second  place,  contemplate  the  char- 
acter and  situation  of  this  assembly,  and  Paul's 
condition,  as  called  to  testify  in  their  presence 
the  gospel  of  the  blessed  God.  Never  was  there 
a  more  interesting  audience  addressed  by  man ; 
never  was  there  a  man  called  to  address  an  audi- 
ence in  circumstances  of  more  deep  and  solemn 
interest.  There  was  the  high  court  of  the  Athe- 


MARSHILL.  55 

nians,  which  had  existed  for  ages,  composed  of  a 
large  number  of  the  first  characters  ef  the  city, 
usually  thought  to  be  fifty-one,  and  held  in  the 
greatest  veneration  for  wisdom  and  authority,  by 
all  the  Greeks  and  by  other  nations.  There  too 
were  collected  philosophers,  statesmen,  orators, 
poets,  heroes  and  sages,  not  only  from  Athens, 
but  from  all  parts  of  Greece  and  from  other  dis- 
tant countries.  With  these  were  assembled  a 
multitude  of  people  of  different  callings  and  sta- 
tions in  society,  drawn  thither  to  witness  the 
conduct  of  the  Apostle  before  this  collection  of 
great  and  distinguished  men,  and  to  hear  him 
explain  further  those  new  and  deeply  interesting 
truths,  on  which  he  had  insisted  in  his  more  pri- 
vate discussions  in  the  market  place.  I  speak 
thus  of  the  audience  on  Mars  Hill,  because  it  is 
most  evident,  that,  during  the  short  time  the 
Apostle  had  been  in  Athens,  he  had  excited  a 
general  attention  to  his  doctrines  among  all 
classes  of  people,  who  would  now  throng  to  hear 
him  speak  before  the  high  court  of  the  nation, 
which  had  authority,  among  other  things,  to  take 
cognizance  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  public 
religion.  Here  then  they  were  convened,  a  vast 
and  mixed  assembly,  collected  from  all  parts  of 


56  PAUL      ON 

Greece,  holding  conflicting  views  of  philosophy 
and  religion,  all  addicted  to  idolatry,  and  all 
alike  ignorant  of  the  true  God  and  of  the  way  of 
salvation  by  Christ. 

Paul  stands  in  the  midst  of  them,  a  solitary  one 
in  all  the  vast  and  mingled  crowd,  who  had  in 
his  bosom  the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion,  and 
could  make  known  the  way  of  pardon  and  life, — 
himself  permitted  to  address  them  this  once  on 
subjects  of  eternal  moment,  ere  he  should  meet 
them  before  the  bar  of  final  judgment.    His  situa- 
tion was  indeed  deeply  solemn  and  critical.     His 
audience  was  such  as  might  awe    an  ordinary 
man,  especially  when  it  is  considered,  that  those 
before  whom  he  was  to  speak,  had  the  power  of 
life  and  death,  and  were  peculiarly  jealous  of  all 
attempts  to  innovate  on  the  established  religion. 
On  this  very  spot,  and  before  this   very  court, 
Socrates,  whose -prison  was  in  sight,  had,  four 
hundred  years  before,  been  arraigned  and  con- 
demned for  alleged  innovation  in  religion,  and 
contempt  of  the  gods.     Then,  the  scene  around, 
how  deeply  interesting  and  imposing!     He  stood 
in  the  midst  of  Mars  Hill,  in  the  very  centre  and 
on   the   highest  tower  of  judicial  power  and  of 
gentile  religion  and  philosophy;  and  his  audience, 


MARSHILL.  57 

as  we  have  said,  was  composed  of  that  august 
court,  and  of  others,  senators,  statesmen,  philos- 
ophers, professors  and  students  of  various  learn- 
ing. Before  him,  separated  by  a  slight  valley, 
rose  the  Acropolis,  crowned  by  the  glorious  Par- 
thenon, dedicated  to  the  goddess  Minerva,  whose 
glittering  spear,  poised  above  its  top,  gave  warn- 
ing to  all  to  beware  how  they  offended  against 
the  power  of  Athens.  On  the  right  was  the  Pnyx 
or  forum,  where  the  people  were  wont  to  assem- 
ble, to  deliberate  and  to  be  addressed  by  their 
statesmen  and  orators.  On  the  left,  at  a  little 
distance  on  the  plain,  stood  the  temple  of  The- 
seus, itself  a  perfect  model  of  architectural  sym- 
. metry  and  beauty,  and  a  little  further  on,  in  the 
same  direction,  was  the  Academy  of  Plato,  and 
the  Lyceum  of  Aristotle,  which  were  regarded 
with  the  greatest  veneration,  as  the  very  fountains 
of  wisdom  and  science.  At  a  little  remove  to  the 
southeast  of  the  Acropolis,  stood  in  lonely  and 
awful  grandeur,  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Olympus, 
and  all  around,  on  every  hand,  were  to  be  seen 
the  proud  monuments  of  Athenian  art  and  gen- 
ius,— the  whole  embosomed  in  an  amphitheatre 
of  hills  and  mountains  of  exceeding  beauty, 

open   only  at  the  west,  where  at  the    distance 
6 


58  P  A  U  L      O  N 

of  some  five  or  six  miles,  but  in  plain  sight 
from  Mars  Hill,  lay  the  harbor  of  the  Piraeus, 
presenting  a  view  of  the  various  islands  in  the 
^iEgean  sea,  with  the  navy  and  shipping  of  Ath- 
ens. Such  was  the  scene,  in  the  midst  of  which 
Paul  stood,  on  the  occasion  referred  to  in  our  text ; 
altogether  the  most  sublime  and  interesting  that 
can  be  conceived ;  at  least,  so  it  seemed  to  me, 
when  on  a  beautiful  Sabbath  in  the  close  of  last 
November,*  I  stood  on  this  same  spot,  and  read 
over  the  narrative  on  which  we  are  now  medita- 
ting. I  could  easily  imagine,  with  all  the  local- 
ities around  me  distinctly  marked,  that  I  could 
see  the  great  Apostle,  surrounded  by  the  temples 
of  idolatry  and  the  numerous  monuments  of  artt 
standing  up  in  the  midst  of  his  august  audience, 
in  calm  Christian  dignity,  and  preparing  to  ad- 
dress them  on  the  great  themes  of  judgment  and 
mercy,  of  God  and  salvation.  Let  us  then  pass 
to  notice, 

III.  Some  of  the  topics  on  which  he  insisted 
in  the  discourse  he  delivered  on  the  occasion  we 
are  considering.  An  outline  of  it  is  contained  in 
the  chapter  from  which  our  text  is  taken  ;  and 
whoever  studies  it,  with  any  degree  of  attention, 
cannot  but  be  struck  with  its  peculiar  appro- 

*  1843. 


MARSHILL.  59 

priateness,  and  with  the  grand  and  weighty  char- 
acter of  the  truths  which  it  contains. 

The  Apostle,  aware  of  the  delicate  and  very 
critical  position  he  occupied,  sets  himself  first  to 
conciliate  the  kind  and  candid  feelings  of  his 
audience.  Ye  men  of  Athens,  he  says,  I  per- 
ceive that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious. 
This  language,  in  our  translation,  sounds  harsh. 
It  might  be  rendered — I  perceive  that  ye  are  ex- 
ceedingly addicted  to  the  worship  of  invisible 
powers.  For,  as  I  passed  by  and  beheld  your 
devotions,  I  saw  an  altar  with  this  inscription, — 
To  the  unknown  God.  This,  with  admirable 
skill,  he  chose  for  his  text ;  for  while  it  introduced 
the  very  subject  on  which  he  intended  to  dis- 
course, it  shielded  him  from  the  charge  of  wish- 
ing to  bring  forward  any  new  god  or  object  of 
worship.  In  the  strange  and  blind  addictedness 
of  these  Athenians  to  the  worship  of  lord's  many 
and  god's  many,  they  had  erected  an  altar  to 
one,  of  whose  character,  being,  or  even  name, 
they  had  no  certain  knowledge.  They  could  not 
therefore  justly  complain  of  the  Apostle,  or  charge 
him  with  innovating  upon  the  popular  theology, 
if  he  should  explain  to  them  the  character  and 
ways  of  that  unknown  being  to  whom  they  had 


\ 

60  P  A  U  L     O  N 

erected  an  altar.  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly 
worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you.  He  was  not 
among  Jews,  but  among  gentiles  who  had  no 
divine  revelation ;  and  he  met  them,  as  he  must, 
on  the  ground  of  natural  religion,  and  led  them 
to  contemplate,  as  their  first  lesson,  the  being  and 
perfections  of  the  one  only  living  and  true  God. 
This  is  the  beginning,  this  the  foundation  of  all 
true  religion;  and  plain  and  familiar  as  is  this 
great,  fundamental  truth  to  us,  it  was  wholly 
unknown  to  the  wisest  of  the  Athenians,  who, 
with  all  their  boasted  philosophy  and  learning, 
needed  to  be  taught  the  very  first  elements  of 
religious  knowledge. 

With  singular  propriety  then  did  the  Apos- 
tle begin  with  saying — Whom  therefore  ye 
ignorantly  worship  him  declare  I  unto  you.  It 
is  not  easy  for  us  to  conceive  with  what  deep 
and  intense  interest  this  annunciation  would 
be  listened  to  by  those  whom  Paul  addressed — 
himself  all  earnest,  serious,  as  speaking  in  the 
presence  of  that  God,  whose  character  he  would 
declare,  and  to  beings  who,  he  knew,  must 
soon  die  and  pass  to  the  judgment.  And  the 
annunciation  was  followed  by  a  strain  of  def- 
inite, majestic,  simple  truth,  in  regard  to  the 
supreme,  all-perfect  and  reigning  God,  such  as 


MARSHILL.  61 

they  had  never  heard  from  the  wisest  and  most 
eloquent  of  their  philosophers  ;  such  as  could  not 
have  been  found  in  all  the  pages  of  Plato  ;  such 
as  could  not  have  been  gathered  indeed  from  the 
concentrated  wisdom  of  all  their  teachers  from  the 
earliest  ages,  and  compared  with  which  their 
whole  speculations  were  but  an  abyss  of  darkness 
and  absurdity. 

God  that  made  the  world,  and  all  that  is 
therein,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth.  What  a 
sublime  announcement  was  this  1  It  was  like 
a  sun  shot  into  chaos,  and  it  put  to  flight  in  a 
moment  all  the  vain  speculations  of  the  Epi- 
curean and  Stoic  philosophers  about  atoms,  and 
contingencies,  and  floating  forms  of  matter,  and 
elementary  principles  from  eternity.  Then  the 
announcement  was  so  reasonable,  it  carried  its 
own  demonstration  along  with  it.  The  world, 
with  some  of  its  loveliest  scenery  of  sky  and  sea, 
mountain,  valley  and  plain,  was  before  the  Apos- 
tle and  his  audience,  like  a  transparent  panora- 
ma ;  and  the  bright  heavens  seemed  to  echo  the 
sentiment,  and  repeat  it  like  a  vast  intelligence. 
For  the  first  time  in  their  lives  the  Athenians 
heard  it ;  and  its  sublimity  can  be  fully  felt,  only 
6* 


62  P  A  U  L     O  N 

by  those  who  have  traced  the  wanderings  of  unas- 
sisted reason,  and  the  deep  chaos  of  heathen  spec- 
ulation respecting  God  and  the  creation.  Then 
the  unity  of  God — how  must  that  have  seemed, 
when  announced  in  the  face  of  a  system  that 
numbered  thirty  thousand  deities  in  its  catalogue? 
The  Apostle  proceeded.  God  that  made  the 
world  and  all  that  is  therein,  dwelleth  not  in 
temples  made  with  hands.  Here  is  asserted  the 
supreme  creatorship  of  Jehovah;  and  also  the 
omnipresence  and  spirituality  of  his  nature.  This 
was  a  new  truth  to  the  Athenians,  and  it  must 
have  pealed  upon  their  hearing  as  a  voice  from 
the  bosom  of  eternity. 

To  feel  the  full  force  with  which  this  great 
spiritual  truth  would  strike  the  minds  of  Paul's 
auditors,  one  needs  to  stand  on  the  summit  of 
Mars  Hill,  and  have  a  clear  view  of  the  scene  in 
which  he  uttered  it.  Before  him  was  the  Par- 
thenon, and  within  it  and  the  temples  around  it, 
were  enshrined  the  forms  of  gods  many  and  lords 
many ;  and  there  the  priests  of  idolatry  in  their 
splendid  robes,  and  crowds  of  devotees  were  wont 
daily  to  pay  their  worship,  in  gorgeous  rites  and 
costly  sacrifices.  The  Apostle,  stretching  forth 
his  hand  and  glancing  his  eyes  over  these  proud 


MARSHILL.  63 

structures,  which  rose,  in  imposing  magnificence 
and  glory,  before  and  around  him,  exclaimed, — 
God  dwelleth  not  in  these,  and  all  the  services  per- 
formed there  by  men's  hands,  are  in  his  sight  vain 
and  worthless.  He,  the  infinite  Being,  the  Maker, 
Possessor  and  Sovereign  of  the  universe,  is  not 
limited  in  his  presence  or  his  abode  to  temples  of 
human  erection,  however  magnificent;  neither 
is  he  worshiped  by  outward  rites  and  ceremonies, 
however  costly.  He  is  the  independent,  every 
where  present,  all  perfect  and  reigning  God,  and 
needeth  nothing  of  man,  seeing  he  giveth  to  all 
life  and  breath  and  all  things.  This  was  a  start- 
ling truth,  and  in  the  position  in  which  it  fell 
from  the  lips  of  the  Apostle,  it  was  like  a  vivid 
flash  of  lightning  across  the  infidel  serenity  of  the 
surrounding  scene,  revealing  at  once  the  false- 
hood of  the  whole  system  of  idolatry,  and  the 
emptiness  of  all  worship  paid  in  idol  temples. 

Having  thus  in  this  unheard  of  strain,  asserted 
the  being,  perfections,  and  absolute  independence 
of  God,  the  Apostle  proceeds  to  declare  his  sov- 
ereign providence,  extending  to  all  nations,  crea- 
tures and  events;  the  common  relation  of  all 
men  to  him  as  their  original  Father  and  rightful 


64  P  A  TJ  L     O  N 

Disposer,  and  to  one  another  as  his  offspring  and 
of  one  blood  ;  their  common  dependence  on  him 
for  life  and  breath  and  all  things ;  their  common 
obligations  to  love  serve  and  glorify  him  ;  his  de- 
termining the  bounds  of  their  habitations  and 
ordering  their  circumstances  in  life,  that  they 
might  seek  after  him  and  know  him  ;  his  patience 
and  forbearance  towards  men  in  the  past  times  of 
ignorance,  and  his  commanding  them  now  every 
where  to  repent,  seeing  a  new  and  most  interest- 
ing era  had  commenced  ;  a  new  and  glorious  dis- 
pensation was  opening  upon  the  world. 

We  cannot  enlarge  on  these  sublime  senti- 
ments ;*  but  we  can  easily  imagine  with  what 
impressive  solemnity  and  power  they  must  have 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  the  Apostle,  and  how  by 
their  singular  appropriateness  and  boldness,  they 
must  have  roused  the  minds  and  moved  the  sen- 
sibilities of  his  hearers.  They  were  such  senti- 
ments, as  they  had  never  heard  before,  and  it 
must  have  been  like  lifting  the  veil,  of  a  sudden, 
from  the  spiritual  world,  and  letting  them  look 
into  the  realities  of  God  and  eternity.  Then  the 
inference  he  draws  from  the  whole  of  his  great 
argument,  how  reasonable  and  how  striking  1 
For  as  much  then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God, 


MARSHILL.  65 

we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  like 
unto  gold,  or  silver  or  stone  graven  by  art  and 
man's  device.  While  Paul  spake  these  words 
the  collosal  statue  of  Minerva  Promachus,  over- 
topping the  Parthenon,  was  looking  down  with 
silent  majesty,  and  the  finger  of  the  Apostle 
might  have  pointed  the  assembly  to  its  senseless 
form ;  and  when  he  referred  to  the  workmanship 
of  gold  and  silver  and  stone,  every  mind  must 
have  reverted  to  the  statues  thus  composed  and 
adorned  ;  and  especially  to  the  image  of  gold  and 
ivory,  the  workmanship  of  Phidias,  originally 
enshrined  in  the  apartment  regarded  as  the  inner- 
most sanctuary  of  the  goddess.  Shall  we,  who 
are  God's  intelligent  offspring,  degrade  ourselves 
so  far  as  to  suppose  that  these  images,  the  work 
of  human  hands,  are  gods;  or  shall  we  dishonor 
the  Godhead  of  the  spiritual  and  invisible  One, 
by  likening  him  to  these  senseless  works  of  hu- 
man art?  One  would  suppose  that  an  appeal  like 
this,  especially  from  an  inspired  messenger  of 
God,  must  have  moved  the  whole  audience  in 
deep  indignation  against  idol  worship,  and  led 
them  at  once  to  renounce  all  such  impious  fool- 
eries. But  we  shall  see. 

The  Apostle  having  announced  the  introduc- 


66  PAUL     ON 

tion  of  a  new  dispensation,  and  declared  the  fact 
that  God  now  commandeth  all  men  every  where 
to  repent,  presses  home  this  great  duty  by  a  dis- 
tinct reference  to  a  future  day  of  judgment  and 
account.  He  refers  with  awful  solemnity  to  the 
glories  and  the  terrors  of  that  appointed  day, 
when  all  men  must  stand  before  the  judgment 
seat  of  Christ,  for  final  audit  and  everlasting  re- 
tribution. Assurance  of  this,  he  declares,  has 
already  been  given  to  all  men  in  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ;  and  it  is  therefore  the  first  and 
great  duty  of  all  to  repent,  turn  unto  God  and 
thus  be  prepared  for  the  scenes  of  coming  destiny. 

I  have  touched  only  in  the  briefest  manner  on 
some  of  the  principal  topics  of  this  great  discourse 
of  the  Apostle  ;  but  enough  I  trust  has  been  said 
to  satisfy  you,  that  no  discourse  was  ever  uttered 
more  replete  with  profound  and  weighty  truths, 
or  in  circumstances  and  scenery  around,  better 
fitted  to  bring  it  home,  in  clear  and  powerful  illus- 
tration, and  in  absorbing,  awakening  interest  to 
the  mind. 

Standing  where  Paul  stood,  on  the  brow  of  the 
same  craggy  hill,  beneath  an  Acropolis  whose 
temples  are  still  splendid  even  in  ruins,  the  Chris- 
tian receives  an  impression  of  the  power,  sublim- 


MARSHILL.  67 

ity,  and  divine  wisdom  of  that  discourse,  such 
as  he  never  before  experienced.  We  pass  to 
notice, — 

IV.  The  effects  of  the  discourse.  And  certain- 
ly, all,  who  heard  it,  must  have  been  convinced 
and  converted, — it  was  so  full  of  light,  so  reason- 
able, so  cogent  in  argument,  so  tender  and  solemn 
in  appeal,  that  none,  it  would  seem,  could  resist 
its  power,  or  refuse  to  yield  to  the  duties  it  enjoins. 
So  we  should  judge,  looking  at  the  case  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  facts.  But  in  truth,  very  liltle 
saving  fruit  was  gathered  from  the  discourse 
before  us,  or  from  any  other  labors  performed  by 
the  Apostle  while  he  was  in  Athens.  No  church, 
so  far  as  .appears,  either  at  this  time  or  subse- 
quently, was  gathered  there  by  him.  He  was 
heard  respectfully,  till  he  touched  upon  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection ;  when  he  was  stopped 
in  his  discourse  by  the  mocking  and  derision  of 
some,  and  by  the  impatience  and  restlessness  of 
others.  There  were  those  in  the  assembly,  who 
were  too  wise  to  be  taught,  even,  by  an  inspired 
messenger  of  God,  respecting  a  subject,  of 
which  from  the  nature  of  the  case  they  must  have 
been  profoundly  ignorant.  It  is  plain  that  the 
philosophy,  the  learning  and  rank  of  many 


00  P  A  U  L      O  N 

among  his  hearers  gave  the  Apostle  no  peculiar 
advantage  in  ministering  to  them  the  gospel. 

They  wanted  humility  and  teachableness  to" 
profit  by  his  instructions.  Pride  and  vain  self 
conceit  armed  them  against  the  truth,  and  they 
disposed  of  the  Apostle's  arguments  in  a  very  con- 
venient, summary  way,  that  of  mocking  at  them, 
and  so  dismissed,  both  him  and  his  discourse,  with 
levity  and  contempt.  Others,  too  much  impress- 
ed by  what  they  heard  for  mockery,  but  not  de- 
cided to  yield  to  the  power  of  truth  and  argument, 
and  somewhat  impatient,  it  would  seem,  either  at 
the  length  of  the  discourse,  or  by  its  serious, 
pointed  appeals  to  the  conscience,  proposed,  like 
Felix,  on  another  occasion,  to  hear  him  further, 
at  a  more  convenient  season.  So  Paul  departed 
from  among  them,  retired  from  that  enlightened, 
distinguished  assembly,  with  very  painful  reflec- 
tions, no  doubt,  on  the  vanity  of  human  wisdom, 
and  the  obstinacy  of  human  pride. 

Howbeit,  certain  men  clave  unto  him  and 
believed,  among  whom  was  Dionysius  the  Areo- 
pagite,  and  a  woman  named  Damaris,  and  others 
with  them.  Though  the  Apostle's  discourse  was 
lost  upon  the  great  body  of  his  hearers,  it  was 
not  altogether  fruitless.  A  few  became  obedient 


MARSHILL.  69 

to  the  faith ;  a  few  touched  with  the  power  of 
divine  grace,  turned  from  their  dumb  idols  to 
serve  the  living  God;  and  humbly  to  wait  for  his 
Son  from  heaven,  whom  he  raised  from  the 
dead ;  and  those  few  will  shine  forth  as  the  sun 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  the  joy  of  the  Apos- 
tle, and  for  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer,  when  all 
the  proud  monuments  of  Grecian  wisdom  and 
power  shall  not  only  be  crumbled  in  the  dust,  as 
now,  but  lost  in  everlasting  oblivion. 

The  subject,  I  deeply  feel,  is  very  imperfectly 
illustrated ;  but  time  forbids  me  to  dwell  longer 
upon  it,  and  I  close  with  remarking, — 

1.  How  perfectly  reasonable  is  religion.  Paul, 
on  the  occasion  before  us,  made  his  appeal  to  the 
higher  faculties  of  the  soul,  to  the  reason,  the 
conscience,  the  common  understanding  of  his 
hearers, — and  no  rational  man  can  read  over  his 
address,  or  seriously  consider  the  course  of  his 
argument,  with  the  great  truths  and  motives  it 
contains,  without  being  compelled  to  admit  the 
reasonableness  of  every  position  taken,  and  of 
every  duty  enjoined.  There  is  a  God,  all  perfect 
and  glorious,  at  the  head  of  the  world,  the  Maker 
and  Ruler  of  all  things.  This  great  truth,  which 

lies  at  the  foundation  of  religion,  forces  itself  upon 

7 


70  P  A  U  L     O  N 

the  mind  of  every  man,  who  looks  around  upon 
the  works  of  creation,  or  considers  his  own  won- 
drous being  :  and  from  it,  it  follows  with  irresis- 
tible conviction,  that  every  man  is  bound  to  love, 
fear  and  honor  this  great  and  glorious  God ;  that, 
seeing  he  giveth  life  and  breath  and  all  things, 
he  is  to  be  gratefully  and  devoutly  acknowledged 
in  all  our  ways ;  that  since  we  are  sinners  in  his 
sight,  it  is  our  first  and  indispensable  duty  to  re- 
pent and  seek  his  mercy ;  and  finally,  as  there  is 
before  us  an  appointed  day  of  judgment  and  a 
state  of  just  and  eternal  retribution,  it  is  the  high- 
est wisdom,  and  most  urgent  concern  of  every 
living  man  to  be  in  constant  preparation  for  the 
awful  and  inevitable  scenes  before  him.  But  this 
is  religion;  the  truest,  the  most  reasonable,  and 
the  most  important  thing  that  can  possibly  be 
presented  to  the  mind  of  man.  Let  every  one, 
then,  use  aright  the  faculties  God  has  given  him 
and  be  a  religious  man,  fearing  and  serving  God, 
believing  in,  and  following  Christ,  and  living 
with  a  wise  reference  to  those  invisible  and  eter- 
nal scenes  to  which  all  of  us  are  so  rapidly  ad- 
vancing. 

2.  We  see  the  necessity  "of  an  influence  above 


MARS     HILL.  71 

all  argument  and  motive  to  bring  men  to  be 
Christians.  Among  the  hearers  of  Paul  on  Mars 
Hill,  there  were  many  of  the  finest  talents,  and 
of  the  most  cultivated  minds,  that  were  to  be 
found  in  Athens,  or  perhaps,  in  all  Greece. 
They  were  addressed  by  an  inspired  Apostle,  on 
topics  of  infinite  moment,  with  a  clearness  of 

• 

argument  never  surpassed,  and  with  a  power  of 
motive  that  would  seem  irresistible.  And  yet 
only  a  few,  a  very  few,  were  persuaded  to  turn 
from  their  idols  to  the  living  God.  But  one  of 
the  fifty  judges,  composing  the  high  court  of  the 
nation,  opened  his  heart  to  receive  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus.  All  the  others,  it  would  seem,  re- 
mained in  their  unbelief,  turned  away  from  the 
light  held  out  to  them  by  the  Apostle,  and  con- 
tinued still  in  the  darkness  of  idolatry  and  sin. 
So  little  do  mere  talents  and  learning  avail  in  the 
great  concern  of  religion  and  salvation.  Some- 
thing above  talents,  something  above  learning, 
something  above  all  argument  and  motive  is 
needed  to  bring  men  to  repentance  and  faith  in 
Christ.  The  pride  of  the  heart  is  not  subdued  by 
argument.  The  obstinacy  of  a  selfish  will  does 
not  bend  to  the  power  of  mere  motive.  The 


72  P  A  U  L     O  N 

men  whom  Paul  addressed  on  Mars  Hill,  were 
men  of  enlightened  minds, — of  clear  intelligence; 
abundantly  able  to  understand  the  force  of  an 
argument,  and  to  appreciate  the  power  of  mo- 
tives ;  and  never  was  argument  or  motive  more 
clearly  or  forcibly'presented,  than  in  the  discourse 
we  have  been  considering.  But  all  in  vain  in 
respect  to  the  great  body  of  the  hearers.  Their 
pride,  their  vanity,  their  selfishness  and  world! i- 
ness  were  more  than  a  match  for  all  the  cogency 
of  reasoning,  and  power  of  appeal,  which  even 
an  Apostle  could  bring  to  bear  upon  them.  So 
in  all  cases.  The  heart  of  man  is  desperately 
wicked,  and  it  yields  to  no  influence  but  that  of 
the  spirit  of  God  ;  and  this  is  just  as  true  of  men 
of  talents  and  learning,  of  rank  and  station,  as  it 
is  of  men  of  inferior  mind  and  of  the  humblest 
walks  in  life. 

3.  Let  us  all  be  reminded  that  in  the  truths 
declared  by  Paul  on  Mars  Hill,  we  each  of  us 
have  a  deep  personal  interest.  The  God  whom 
he  declares  is  our  God ;  the  providence  he  de- 
scribes is  that  which  surrounds  us ;  the  govern- 
ment he  unfolds  is  that  under  which  we  live ; 
the  command  to  repent  which  he  proclaims  is 


MARSHILL.  73 

addressed  to  us ;  and  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead — the  appointed  day  of  righteous  judgment 
which  he  asserts,  are  scenes  which  lie  before  us, 
and  the  consequences  of  which  we  are  to  meet 
on  the  track  of  our  future  being. 

The  men  who  heard  these  great  truths,  as  they 
fell  from  the  Apostles  lips,  both  those  who  be- 
lieved, and  those  who  believed  not,  have  long 
since  learned  their  reality  in  eternity,  the  one  in 
joyous,  the  other  in  awful  experience.  We  too 
who  have  heard  them  to-day,  shall  soon  go  to 
learn  them  in  the  same  place  and  in  the  same 
manner,  in  eternity ; — in  heaven  or  in  hell.  Let 
us  learn  them  now,  believe  them  now,  feel  and 
obey  them  now  : — then  shall  we  be  prepared  to 
welcome  in  peace,  the  revelations  of  the  last  day, 
and  enter  with  joy  into  the  everlasting  kingdom 
of  our  Lord. 


7* 


WOMAN  OF  SAMARIA 


fit  MI  i 


AUU 


IV  CU 


BIGOTRY  EXHIBITED  AND  REPROVED  IN 
THE  WOMAN  OF  SAMARIA.* 


"  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  believe  me,  the  hour  cometh,  when  ye 
shall  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father. 
Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what  :  we  know  what  we  worship ;  for  salvation 
is  of  the  Jews.  But  the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the  true  worship- 
ers shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  hi  truth  ;  for  the  father  seeketh 
such  to  worship  him.  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  wor- 
ship him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  woman  saith  unto  him,  1  know  tliat 
Messias  cometh,  which  is  called  Christ :  when  he  is  come  he  will  tell  us  all 
things.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  he."— JOHN  4 : 
21—26. 

THIS  is  a  part  of  the  conversation  which  our 
blessed  Lord  had  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  at 
Jacob's  well.  The  whole  conversation  is  deeply 
interesting  and  instructive,  and  I  invite  your  at- 
tention to  it,  this  morning,  with  the  view  of  show- 
ing the  spirit  of  the  woman  as  a  bigot,  the  wisdom 
of  the  Saviour  in  his  treatment  of  her,  and  the 
happy  consequences  which  resulted  from  hig 
manner  of  treating  her. 

*  This  discourse  has  before  appeared  in  the  National  Preacher. 
It  is  re-published  here  because  it  is  of  the  same  general  charac- 
ter with  the  others  contained  in  this  volume,  and  treats  on  a 
subject  of  much  practical  importance. 


78        %  THEWOMAN 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  last  April,*  hav- 
ing spent  the  preceding  night  in  Nabulus,  the 
ancient  Schechem,  afterwards  Sychar,  I  left  the 
town  about  nine  o'clock,  in  company  with  several 
of  my  fellow  travelers,  and  began  to  ascend  Mount 
Gerizim,  which  rose  before  us  to  the  height  of 
about  eight  hundred  feet,  and  stretched  to  the 
east,  the  point  which  we  wished  to  attain.  The 
ascent  was  steep  and  difficult ;  but  after  near  an 
hour's  hard  toil,  we  reached  the  highest  elevation, 
where  the  ancient  Samaritans  were  wont  to  pay 
their  worship,  and  where  now  the  little  remnant 
of  them,  residing  at  Nabulus,  go  in  procession  four 
times  a  year  for  the  same  purpose.  Here  is  their 
holy  place,  where  they  sacrifice  the  passover, 
seven  lambs  among  them  all,  and  perform  their 
various  religious  services,  believing  them  to  have 
a  peculiar  holiness  and  acceptableness  to  God, 
because  performed  on  this  particular  spot.  There 
is  no  temple  there,  though  there  are  the  ruins  of 
one,  and  the  fragments  of  buildings  which  lie 
scattered  thick  around,  indicate  that  a  large  town 
once  occupied  this  site.  The  view  from  this  posi- 
tion is  one  of  exceeding  beauty  and  grandeur. 
Overlooking  the  intervening  hills  and  valleys, 
*  1544. 


OFSAMARIA.  7iJ 

you  see  in  the  west,  at  the  distance  of  some 
twenty  or  thirty  miles,  the  Mediterranean,  bor- 
dering the  broad  rich  plain  of  Sharon,  stretching 
far  to  the  north  and  south.  Over  against  you, 
on  the  north,  rises  Mount  Ebal,  to  an  equal 
height  with  that  of  Mount  Gerizim,  but  more 
bold  and  rocky  if  possible, and  so  near  that  voices 
can  be  heard  from  one  mountain  to  the  other, 
separated  only  by  a  valley  of  about  five  hundred 
yards  wide.  Beneath  you,  at  the  east,  lies  spread 
out  a  rich  extended  plain,  including  the  tomb  of 
Joseph,  Jacob's  farm  as  it  is  called,  and  also  the 
well  which  bears  his  name.  Along  the  foot  of 
the  Mount  and  on  the  edge  of  the  plain,  runs  the 
road  which  leads  from  Jerusalem  to  Galilee,  on 
which  our  Lord  and  his  disciples  were  wont  to 
travel,  as  they  went  to  and  from  these  places. 

Standing  on  the  summit  of  Gerizim,  with  the 
various  localities  distinctly  marked  and  spread 
out  in  full  view  before  me,  I  could  easily  imagine 
that  I  saw  the  blessed  Saviour  and  his  followers, 
on  the  dtcasion  referred  to  in  our  text,  wending 
their  way  along  this  road  around  the  south-east 
base  of  the  mountain,  and  drawing  near  to  Jacob's 
well.  There  the  Master,  wearied  with  his  jour- 


80  THE     WOMAN 

ney  and  the  heat  of  the  day,  seats  himself  by  the 
well,  while  his  disciples  pass  up  the  valley  a  short 
distance,  to  the  city,  to  buy  food.  At  this  point 
a  woman  of  Samaria  comes  near  to  draw  water. 
With  a  view  to  engage  her  in  conversation,  our 
Saviour  asks  her  to  give  him  to  drink.  Instantly 
her  prejudices  are  roused,  and  she  replies,  How 
is  it  that  thou,  being  a  Jew,  askest  drink  of  me, 
which  am  a  woman  of  Samaria'?  There  had 
been  a  controversy  between  the  Jews  and  Samar- 
itans of  long  standing.  It  related  especially  to 
the  proper  place  of  worshiping  God, — the  Jews 
claiming  that  it  was  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  Samar- 
itans that  it  was  in  Mount  Gerizim.  This  contro- 
versy ran  so  high,  and  was  carried  on  with  such 
bitterness  of  spirit,  that  it  interrupted  all  the  civil- 
ities of  life,  and  even  prevented  common  dealings 
with  one  another.  This  old  enmity  continues  to 
the  present  day,  and  the  little  handful  of  Samar- 
itans, about  one  hundred  and  twenty*  in  number, 
residing  in  Nabulus,  still  insist  that  on  Mount 
Gerizim  is  the  very  place  where  God  is  to  be 
worshiped,  and  all  the  world  are  wrong  on  this 
point  but  themselves. 

*  They  are  variously  estimated  from  120  to  150. 


OPSAMARIA.  81 

The  woman  who  came  to  draw  water  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  her  sect.  She  was  evidently 
full  of  the  subject  in  controversy,  and  it  so  ab- 
sorbed her  thoughts,  and  perverted  her  feelings, 
as  to  make  her  utterly  blind  to  the  deep,  spiritual 
instruction  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  divine 
Teacher.  Hence,  when  he  spoke  of  giving  her 
living  water,  if  she  would  but  ask  it,  of  which  if 
one  drink  he  shall  never  thirst,  she  could  think 
only  of  common  literal  water,  and  at  once  began 
to  question  whether  he  was  greater  than  Jacob, 
who  had  given  the  well  to  her  ancestors,  and 
drank  of  it  himself  with  his  children  and  cattle. 

And  when,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation, 
she  was  convinced  that  our  Lord  was  a  prophet, 
because  he  showed  himself  acquainted  with  her 
secret  history  and  thoughts,  instead  of  seeking 
instruction  from  him  how  she  might  repent  of  sin, 
and  be  saved,  she  at  once  raised  the  old  dispute 
and  says  :  Our  fathers  worshiped  in  this  moun- 
tain, but  ye  say  that  in  Jerusalem  is  the  place 
where  men  ought  to  worship.  The  great  thing 
with  her  was  the  place,  the  manner,  the  form  of 
worship,  not  the  spirit,  the  life,  the  heart  of  it. 
Though  her  morals  were  very  questionable,  and 
8 


82  THE     WO  MAW 

she  was  at  this  time  living  with  one  who  was  not 
her  husband,  still  she  was  mighty  zealous  for  her 
sect,  and  was  ready  at  once  to  enter  into  a  dis- 
pute as  to  the  place  and  manner  of  worship.  In 
a  word  she  was  a  bigot.  She  attached  an  undue 
importance  to  the  mere  circumstantials  of  religion, 
to  forms  and  ceremonies.  She  was  obstinately 
and  unreasonably  wedded  to  a  sect,  a  party,  a 
practice  and  ritual,  which  had  respect  to  the  ex- 
ternals, the  outside  of  religion  ;  and  this  made 
her  exclusive,  filled  her  with  prejudice  and  dis- 
like against  all  who  differed  from  her  in  regard 
to  these  outward,  non-essential  parts  of  opin- 
ion, or  did  not  come  up  to  her  standard,  in 
worship. 

This  is  the  proper  idea  of  a  bigot ;  and  I  have 
drawn  it  out  thus  particularly,  that  you  may 
know  just  what  character  is  denoted  by  the  term. 
It  denotes  a  person  who  has  a  blind,  unreasonable 
attachment  to  a  particular  creed,  or  place,  or 
mode  of  worship  ;  and  maintains  that  attachment 
with  an  exclusive,  sectarian  spirit.  It  is  no  big- 
otry to  hold  fast  the  great  essentials  of  religion, 
or  to  maintain  with  earnestness  and  zeal,  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,  which  involves  the 


OFSAMARIA.  83 

honor  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  man.  Our  Lord 
was  no  bigot,  though  he  made  faith  in  him  and 
his  doctrines  essential  to  salvation.  Paul  was  no 
bigot,  though  he  maintained  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel with  uncompromising  firmness,  and  even 
wished  those  were  cut  off,  who  perverted  the  true 
gospel,  and  preached  one  that  was  false.  So 
Luther  and  the  reformers  of  his  day  were  no  big- 
ots, though  they  waged  deadly  war  against  the  cor- 
ruptions of  Rome,  and  maintained,  at  the  peril  of 
their  lives,  the  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
Bible.  Bigotry  does  not  consist  in  believing,  lov- 
ing and  maintaining  the  truth  and  ordinances  of 
God,  with  a  zeal  and  firmness  proportioned  to 
their  relative  importance.  But  it  consists  in 
magnifying  what  is  small ;  in  erecting  into  terms 
of  communion  and  conditions  of  salvation,  things 
which  are  not  allowed  to  be  such  in  the  Bible, 
and  contending  for  these  things  with  a  narrow, 
exclusive,  sectarian  spirit.  The  pharisees  were 
bigots ;  who,  while  they  omitted  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law,  judgment  and  the  love  of  God, 
paid  tithe  of  mint,  anise  and  cummin,  and  insist- 
ed upon  the  observance  of  their  ritual,  as  essen- 
tial to  acceptable  worship.  The  catholics  are 


THE     WOMAN 

bigots,  and  all  who  symbolize  with  them  in  senti- 
ment and  practice,  because  they  unreasonably 
magnify  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  make  con- 
nection with  their  church  essential  to  pardon  and 
acceptance  with  God, — consigning  all,  who  are 
not  so  connected,  to  uncovenanted  mercy.  So 
were  the  woman  of  Samaria  and  her  countrymen, 
generally,  bigots,  because  they  believed  that  God 
could  be  worshiped  no  where,  acceptably,  but  on 
Mount  Gerizim,  and  were  so  intolerant  in  main- 
taining this  dogma,  that  they  bitterly  hated  their 
neighbors,  the  Jews,  who  worshiped  God  in  Jeru- 
salem. And  never  did  bigotry  appear  to  me 
more  odious,  or  more  contemptible,  wicked  and 
foolish,  than  when  I  saw  it  exemplified  in  the  old 
Samaritan  priest,  a  man  about  sixty-five  years  of 
age,  and  his  son,  who  promises  to  be  a  worthy 
successor  of  his  father.  There  they  were,  I  saw 
them  in  their  synagogue,  the  only  two  duly 
authorized  priests  in  all  the  world,  and  the  little 
company  of  their  adherents,  some  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  all  told,  the  only  true  church  on 
earth, — both  priests  and  church  having  come 
down  in  the  veritable  line  of  succession  from 
Aaron,  and  still  having  in  their  possession,  the 


OF     SAMARIA.  86 

oldest  and  only  true  copy  of  the  Pentateuch  in 
the  world, — it  having  been  written  by  Abishua, 
the  son  of  Phineas,  three  thousand  four  hundred 
and  sixty  years  ago,  all  of  which  is  to  be  received 
as  a  part  of  essential  faith.  And  when  after  an 
hour's  hard  ride  up  a  steep  mountain,  over  ravines, 
and  precipices,  and  rocks,  I  stood  on  the  spot, 
where,  according  to  Samaritan  faith,  men  must 
go  to  worship  God,  if  they  would  worship  him 
acceptably,  I  could  not  but  exclaim,  this  is  gen* 
nine  bigotry ; — here  we  have  it, — it  sends  people 
away  from  the  ever  present  Father,  from  the  true 
spiritual  worship,  which  he  requires,  and  bids 
them  climb  to  the  tops  of  mountains,  and  there 
sets  them  down  amid  rocky  desolation  and  bar- 
renness, and  feeds  them  with  empty  forms  and 
ceremonies.  There  stood  Ebal,  frowning  over 
against  me ;  and  I  could  not  but  think,  that  all 
the  curses  which  Moses  commanded  should  be 
denounced  from  thence,  against  those  who  should 
forsake  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord  and  go  after 
idols,  might  justly  fall,  with  a  ten-fold  weight, 
on  such  as  pervert  the  simplicity  and  spirituality 
of  Christian  worship,  teach  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men,  and  delude  people  with  the 
8* 


86  THE     WOMAN 

vain  conceit  of  superior  sanctity  and  acceptable- 
ness  to  God,  simply  because  they  belong  to  a  par- 
ticular church,  or  pay  their  worship  in  a  particu- 
lar place,  and  according  to  particular  forms.  Let 
us  turn  now  and  consider  : 

II.  The  manner  in  which  our  Saviour  treated 
this  bigoted  woman  of  Samaria. 

1.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  he  entered  into 
no  dispute  with  her.  At  the  very  commence- 
ment of  the  interview,  the  woman  started  several 
topics  which  were  of  a  controversial  nature.  She 
expressed  her  surprise  that  our  Lord,  being  a  Jew, 
should  ask  drink  of  her,  who  was  a  Samaritan. 
She  questioned  his  superiority,  both  in  respect  to 
wisdom  and  power,  to  her  ancestor  Jacob.  And 
she  claimed  that  Gerizim,  and  not  Jerusalem, 
was  the  place  where  men  ought  to  worship. 
These  several  points  our  Lord  evaded,  as  of  little 
importance  in  themselves,  and  entirely  irrelevant 
to  the  object  he  had  in  view,  which  was  to  con- 
vince the  woman  of  her  error  and  sinfulness,  and 
bring  her  to  repentance.  She  was  not  now  in  a 
state  of  mind  to  be  convinced  or  profited  by  dis- 
putation. She  was  narrow,  sectarian,  bigoted  in 
her  feelings.  The  difficulty  in  her  case  was  more 


OFSAMARIA.  87 

of  the  heart  than  of  the  head,  and  if  our  Lord  had 
entered  into  controversy  with  her  on  the  points 
she  suggested,  the  effect  would  have  been  to  con- 
firm her  prejudice  and  inflame  still  more  her  ill 
temper.  He  therefore  aims  to  draw  her  away 
from  matters  controversial  and  speculative,  and 
to  fix  her  attention  upon  the  great  spiritual  truths 
of  religion. 

There  are  some  persons  with  whom  it  does  no 
good  to  dispute  ;  and  bigots  are  eminently  of  this 
character.  They  are  diseased  at  heart.  They 
see  every  thing  through  a  false  medium.  Their 
state  of  mind  is  such,  as  make  little  things  appear 
great,  and  great  things  little.  And  to  attempt  to 
convince  such  persons  by  argument,  were  as  vain 
as  to  try  to  make  blind  men  see,  or  deaf  men 
hear  by  argument.  The  application,  in  such 
cases,  should  be  to  the  heart  rather  than  to  the 
head.  And  this  was  the  way  in  which  our  Sav- 
iour treated  the  woman  of  Samaria.  Her  mind 
was  full  of  prejudice  and  bigotry  respecting  the 
external,  non-essential  parts  of  religion.  To  have 
disputed  with  her  on  these  things,  would  have 
been  like  pouring  oil  on  fire.  The  divine  Teacher 
therefore  avoided  them,  and  led  her  to  the  know- 


88  THE    WOMAN 

ledge  of  the  truth,  by  another  and  more  success- 
ful method. 

2.  There  is  something  very  noticeable  in  the 
mildness  and  gentleness  with  which  our  Saviour 
treated  this  woman.  Her  manner  of  addressing 
the  stranger,  who  sat  by  the  well  side,  was  ex- 
ceedingly arrogant  and  offensive.  She  refused 
to  give  him  so  much  as  a  drink  of  water ;  held 
his  character  in  disparagement  as  a  Jew,  and 
plainly  intimated  that  he  was  wholly  wrong  on 
the  question  as  to  the  place  and  manner  of  pay- 
ing acceptable  worship  to  God.  Passing  by  all 
this,  our  blessed  Lord,  in  the  mildest  and  gentlest 
manner  possible,  goes  on  in  his  discourse  with 
her,  as  though  nothing  improper  had  fallen  from 
her  lips,  and  gradually  corrects  her  errors  about 
the  place  and  mode  of  worship,  about  forms  and 
ceremonies,  opening  to  her  view  the  great  spir- 
itual truths  of  religion.  He  turns  her  attention 
away  from  rites  and  forms,  and  leads  her  to  think 
of  herself,  her  sins,  her  own  personal  need  of 
grace  to  sanctify  and  save  her ;  and  all  this  he 
does  in  so  kind  and  so  serious  a  manner,  that  be 
soon  began  to  win  upon  her  confidence,  to  allay 
her  prejudices,  and  she  was  prepared  in  the  end 


OF     SAM  ARIA.  89 

to  listen  to  him,  first  as  a  prophet,  and  then  as 
the  Messias,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Here  we 
have  a  perfect  model  of  the  way  in  which  we 
should  treat  persons  who  are  under  the  influence 
of  the  spirit  of  bigotry  and  sectarianism.  They 
can  be  won  by  kindness  much  easier  than  they 
can  be  convinced  by  argument.  They  have  a 
heart  to  feel  the  attractions  of  love,  though  they 
may  have  no  mind  to  see  the  light  or  feel  the 
power  of  argument,  especially  when  aimed  at 
their  prejudices.  We  can  hope  very  little  good 
from  cold  dry  argument,  employed  against  secta- 
rians and  bigots.  And  least  of  all  can  good  be 
expected  from  railing  at  them,  or  calling  them 
hard  names.  If  any  insist  that  Mount  Gerizim 
is  the  place  where  God  must  be  worshiped,  or, 
which  is  virtually  the  same  thing,  if  any  insist 
that  theirs  is  the  only  true  church,  theirs  the  only 
authorized  ministry,  theirs  the  only  valid  ordi- 
nances, and  that  all  not  connected  with  their 
communion,  are  out  of  the  appointed  way  of  sal- 
vation, and  must  be  left,  like  the  heathen,  to 
uncovenanted  mercies, — if  any,  I  say,  insist  upon 
dogmas  like  these,  breathing  only  the  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  narrow-mindedness,  the  best  way  to 


90  THE     WOMAN 

treat  them  is  that  adopted  by  our  Saviour  in  the 
case  before  us.  Do  not  dispute  with  them,  do  not 
assail  their  prejudices;  but  treat  them  kindly; 
pity  them  and  pray  for  them;  and  strive,  when 
you  converse  with  them,  to  bring  them  to  a  bet- 
ter frame  of  mind,  to  think  of  their  sins,  and  of 
their  personal  need  of  God's  mercy  to  pardon  and 
save  them. 

3.  In  his  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Sa- 
maria, our  Saviour  aimed  to  show  her  the  worth- 
lessness  of  all  mere  forms  of  worship,  by  leading 
her  to  entertain  just  views  of  the  nature  of  the 
true,  spiritual  worship  of  God.  The  opportunity 
was  most  favorable  for  giving  instruction  on  these 
points,  and  our  blessed  Lord  improves  it,  not  for 
the  benefit  of  the  woman  only,  but  of  all  who 
should  become  his  disciples  in  after  ages.  At  the 
point  where  she  brought  forward  the  main  dogma 
of  her  faith,  that  Mount  Gerizim  was  the  appoint- 
ed place  of  worship,  the  Saviour  meets  her  with 
the  declaration — Woman,  believe  me,  the  hour 
cometh  when  ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain, 
nor  yet  in  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father.  Hith- 
erto the  public,  solemn  worship  of  God  has  been 
confined  to  one  place.  It  has  been  a  matter  of 


OP     SAM  ARIA.  91 

dispute  whether  that  place  should  be  Jerusalem 
or  Mount  Gerizim.  That  controversy  is  now  of 
little  importance.  A  new,  spiritual  dispensation 
is  about  to  commence.  The  peculiar  rites  of 
Judaism  are  to  cease ;  and  the  worship  of  God, 
no  longer  confined  to  a  single  place,  is  to  be  ob- 
served every  where,  and  with  as  much  acceptance 
in  one  place  as  another.  It  is  not  the  place,  it  is 
not  the  out  ward  form  that  God  regards  in  his  wor- 
ship ;  but  the  hearty  the  spirit,  the  frame  of  the 
inner  man.  The  hour  is  coming,  yea  is,  when 
external  rites  and  ceremonies  as  connected  with 
worship,  aie  to  be  accounted  of  no  value  in  them- 
selves ;  and  the  true  worshipers  shall  worship  the 
Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  for  the  Father  seek- 
eth  such  to  worship  him.  The  reason  assigned 
for  this  follows, — God  is  a  spirit ;  and  they  that 
worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  This  is  one  of  the  first  truths  of  religion, 
and  one  of  the  sublimest  truths  ever  presented  to 
the  mind  of  man.  God  is  announced  as  a  pure, 
spiritual  Being ;  invisible,  eternal,  present  in 
every  place.  This  being  his  nature,  he  dwelleth 
not  in  temples  made  with  hands  ;  neither  is  wor- 
shiped by  men's  hands,  as  though  he  needed 


92  THE     WOMAN 

any  thing,  seeing  he  giveth  to  all  life  and  breath 
and  all  things.  A  pure,  a  holy,  a  spiritual  wor- 
ship is  therefore  alone  adapted  to  his  nature  ;  that 
alone  he  seeks  and  requires  ;  the  offering  of  the 
heart,  the  homage  of  the  mind,  the  devout,  rev- 
erential subjection  of  the  soul  to  him,  the  all-per- 
fect Jehovah,  the  eternal  infinite  I  Am.  How 
does  instruction  like  this  put  to  flight  all  the  silly 
notions  that  men  have  invented  in  regard  to  times, 
and  places,  and  rites,  and  forms  of  worship  ?  God 
is  a  Spirit,  a  great  truth  ;  and  it  follows  irresist- 
ibly from  this,  that  if  we  would  worship  God 
acceptably,  we  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  ;  our  hearts,  our  souls,  must  be  in  our  wor- 
ship ;  all  forms,  all  ceremonies,  however  exact, 
however  costly,  are  nothing  without  this ;  and 
with  this,  our  worship  is  right  and  acceptable  to 
God,  wherever  paid  and  in  whatever  forms. 

III.  Let  us  pass  to  notice,  thirdly,  the  happy 
consequences  which  resulted  from  the  manner  in 
which  our  Saviour  treated  the  woman  of  Samaria. 
And, 

1.  Her  prejudices  were  gradually  subdued,  and 
her  mind  was  opened  to  listen  to  the  instructions 
of  the  divine  teacher,  with  candor  and  docility. 


OPSAMARIA.  96 

2.  Drawn  away  from  her  excessive  and  bigoted 
regard  to  things  outward  and  non-essential,  she 
was  made  to  think  of  her  personal  sinfulness,  and 
to  feel  her  need  of  renewing  grace  and  pardoning 
mercy.     Hence, 

3.  There  is  reason  to   believe  that  she  was 
converted,  became  a  Christian,  and  an  heir  of 
heaven. 

4.  Through  her  instrumentality,  or  in  conse- 
quence of  the  change  wrought  in  her,  and  her 
zeal  in  reporting  what  she  had  seen  and  heard  of 
Christ,  many  others  of  the  Samaritans  came  from 
the  city  to  hear  him  for  themselves,  and  became 
his  disciples.     All  this  is  evident,  as  you  may  see 
from  a  perusal  of  the  narrative  from  which  our 
text  is  taken.  But  I  cannot  enlarge.    Our  blessed 
Lord,  seeing  the  fields  white  unto  the  harvest, 
multitudes  flocking  from  the  city  and  surrounding 
villages  to  hear  him,  was  persuaded  by  the  people 
to  tarry  with  them  two  days.     And  many  more  it 
is  said,  believed,  because  of  his  own  word;  and 
said  unto  the  woman, — now  we  believe,  not  be- 
cause of  thy  saying  :  for  we  have  heard  him  our- 
selves, and  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.     Now,  all  this  resulted 
from  the  manner  in  which  our  Saviour  treated  the 


94  THE     WOMAN 

woman  in  question.  He  entered  into  no  dispute 
with  her.  He  did  uot  directly  attack  her  preju- 
dices; but  led  her  along  in  the  most  kind  and 
winning"  manner,  laying  open  great,  spiritual 
truths  to  her  view,  till  at  length  awakened,  con- 
vinced and  converted,  she  renounced  her  bigotry, 
turned  from  Gerizim  to  Christ,  learned  to  worship 
God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  showed  the  sincer- 
ity  and  earnestness  of  her  faith,  by  striving  to 
bring  others  to  an  acquaintance  with  him  whom 
she  had  chosen  as  her  Saviour  and  King. 

The  change  in  her  was  great  and  most  happy, 
as  it  was  also  in  those  of  her  countrymen  who 
believed  in  Christ.  Convinced  of  the  great  truth 
that  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  that  all  acceptable  wor- 
ship of  him  must  be  from  the  heart,  sincere,  inter- 
nal, spiritual,  they  were  no  longer  disposed  to 
quarrel  about  places  and  modes  of  worship  ;  but 
were  anxious  only  to  prove  themselves  to  be  of 
those  true  worshipers,  who  worship  the  Father  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  A  Christian  church  was  sub- 
sequently gathered  there,  and  for  many  genera- 
tions Christianity  flourished  there  with  much 
purity  and  power.  At  length  war,  in  its  succes- 
sive ravages,  swept  away  the  city ;  laid  waste  the 
surrounding  country ;  and  now  all  that  remains 


OPSAMARIA.  95 

of  ancient  piety  and  of  the  pure  worship  of  God, 
are  the  ruins  of  two  churches — one  at  Sebastie, 
the  ancient  Samaria;  the  other  near  to  Jacob's 
well,  where  our  Lord  held  the  discourse,  on  which 
we  have  been  remarking,  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria. 

The  lessons  which  I  have  wished  to  impress 
on  your  minds,  my  friends,  by  what  I  have  said, 
are  these. 

1.  To  show  you  the  nature,  evil  and  cure  of 
bigotry — a  moral  malady,  very  prevalent  in  our 
day,  and  not  a  little  contagious.  Its  nature  is  to 
make  great  things  little  and  little  things  great; 
to  attach  an  overweening  importance  to  things 
outward  and  non-essential,  and  to  maintain  these 
things  with  an  obstinate,  exclusive  spirit.  The 
evil  of  bigotry  is  to  beget  and  cherish  a  bad  spirit 
in  those  who  are  the  subjects  of  it ;  to  narrow  and 
to  sour  their  minds  ;  to  pervert  and  make  void  the 
great  essential  truths  of  the  gospel ;  to  delude 
and  destroy  men  by  leading  them  to  trust  in  dead 
forms  and  ceremonies,  to  the  neglect  of  charity 
and  the  love  of  God;  and  finally  to  spread  through 
the  community  where  it  prevails,  the  fruits  of 
jealousy,  alienation,  sectaiianism  and  strife.  The 


96  THEWOMAN 

cure  of  it,  as  we  learn  from  our  Saviour,  is  not  in 
disputation,  or  in  harsh  denunciatory  dealing1, 
but  in  kindness,  in  pity,  in  forbearance,  in  draw- 
ing away  the  mind  from  its  fond,  perverting 
attachment  to  things  outward  and  little,  by  open- 
ing to  its  view  and  pressing  on  its  attention  the 
great,  fundamental,  spiritual  truths  of  religion. 
Here  is  the  cure  of  bigotry.  It  is  a  disease  of  the 
heart,  rather  than  of  the  head,  and  no  applica- 
tions are  likely  to  remove  it,  which  do  not  tend 
to  make  the  heart  better,  to  expel  selfishness  and 
pride  from  the  bosom,  and  inspire  there  the  love 
of  God  and  the  love  of  man.  I  wished, 

2.  To  show  you,  from  the  example  of  Christ, 
how  you  should  treat  bigots.  The  Samaritan 
woman  was  a  bigot.  She  believed  thather's  was 
the  only  true  church,  that  Mount  Gerizim  was 
the  only  place  where  God  could  be  acceptably 
worshiped,  and  that  the  priests  of  her  order  were 
the  only  ones  authorized  to  minister  in  the  things 
of  religion.  It  was  a  hard  case,  very  hard.  You 
have  seen  how  the  Saviour  treated  it.  He  did 
not  dispute  with  her;  he  did  not  denounce  her; 
he  did  not  rail  at  her,  or  ridicule  her ;  but  com- 
passionating her  weakness,  and  her  folly,  for 
holding  such  notions,  he  conversed  with  her  in 


OPSAMARIA.  97 

such  a  manner  as  to  coneiliate  her  kind  feelings, 
and  thus  prepared  the  way  to  let  in  the  light  of 
great  essential  truths  upon  her  mind,  which  con- 
verted her  from  her  bigotry,  and  made  her  a  true 
disciple  of  Christ.  This  is  the  right  way  ;  and  it 
is  the  only  way  that  is  likely  to  be  of  any  avail 
in  curing  or  correcting  the  bigotry  of  our  times. 
We  see  it  prevailing  widely  around  us.  In  vari- 
ous quarters,  and  in  different  sects,  persons  are 
rising  up,  both  laity  and  clergy,  who  greatly  mag- 
nify little  things;  who  are  for  ever  insisting  upon 
the  importance  of  certain  rites  and  forms  in  relig- 
ion; who  claim  that  they  are  of  the  only  true 
church,  and  in  the  only  appointed  way  of  salva- 
tion. Now  I  do  not  know  that  all  the  disputing 
and  arguing,  of  which  there  has  been  so  much  in 
these  last  years,  have  availed  to  convert  or  to  cure 
a  single  one  of  the  many  who  are  infected  with 
the  bigotry  indicated  by  such  sentiments.  Such 
disputing  and  arguing  may  have  operated,  and  I 
think  have  operated,  as  a  sanitary  measure  to 
keep  others  from  taking  the  disease  ;  just  as  we 
draw  a  cordon  around  a  place  where  the  yellow 
fever  or  plague  prevails  ;  but  it  is  more  than  I 
know  if  a  single  one,  already  under  the  power  of 

the  disease,  has  ever  been  recovered  by  the  means 
9* 


THE     WOMAN 

referred  to.  Another  remedy  must  be  used  ;  and 
what  that  is,  you  may  learn  from  the  example  of 
the  Saviour  in  the  case  we  have  been  considering. 
A  high  churchman,  a  bigot,  whether  he  be  Con- 
gregational, Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Episcopalian, 
Catholic,  Jew  or  Mahometan — and  the  spirit  in 
all  of  them  is  essentially  alike — is  not,  I  think, 
primarily  to  be  approached  with  disputation  and 
argument.  He  is  beyond  the  reach  of  these. 
The  first  effort  should  be  in  the  way  of  pity,  com- 
passion and  kindness,  just  as  we  deal  with  dis- 
eased persons;  and  then, avoiding  all  dispute  on 
points  of  controversy,  seek  to  fix  the  attention 
upon  the  great,  spiritual  truths  of  religion,  such  as 
relate  directly  to  the  soul,  to  God  and  salvation. 
This  method  is  likely  to  be  blessed  of  God  ;  and 
whether  it  succeed  or  not,  you  will  have  the  sat- 
isfaction of  having  imitated  the  example  of  Christ, 
and  must  stand  approved  of  him. 

3.  I  wished,  in  selecting  the  subject  of  my  text 
for  your  consideration,  to  lead  you  to  a  just  view 
of  true  and  acceptable  worship.  It  is,  that  it  be 
of  the  heart,  of  the  spirit ;  that  it  proceed  from  a 
mind  deeply  and  solemnly  affected  with  a  view 
of  God  as  a  Spirit,  pure,  holy,  invisible,  every- 


OP     8  AMA  R  I  A.  99 

where  present ;  and  that  it  be  offered  to  him  in 
true  sincerity  of  soul.  This  is  the  worship  which 
is  due  to  our  God ;  the  worship  which  he  requires 
of  us  ;  wriich  alone  is  acceptable  iu  his  sight,  or 
can  be  of  any  benefit  to  ourselves.  This  worship, 
it  is  our  privilege  to  know,  can  be  rendered  to 
God  at  any  time  and  in  any  place.  It  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  cathedral  or  to  the  church,  and  is  not 
limited  to  the  Sabbath,  or  to  any  one  day  or  hour 
of  the  week.  In  the  house,  by  the  way,  at  home, 
abroad,  kneeling  in  the  closet,  or  bowing  in  the 
great  congregation,  God,  the  eternal,  ever-pres- 
ent Spirit,  is  near  to  us,  and  we  may  worship  him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  He  knows  our  wants ;  his 
ear  is  attentive  to  our  cry ;  and  never  can  we  be 
in  a  situation,  where  we  shall  not  have  the  priv- 
ilege of  bowing  down  and  worshiping  him,  the 
great  Eternal. 

But  while  the  spirituality  of  God  thus  presents 
him  to  our  view  as  ever  present  with  us,  to  regard 
and  accept  our  worship,'  it  shows  us  also  that  no 
worship  can  be  acceptable  to  him,  which  is  not 
in  spirit  and  in  truth;  proceeding  from  a  mind 
reverent  of  the  divine  majesty,  penetrated  with 
a  sense  of  unworthiness,  and  moved  with  a  sin- 
cere desire  of  his  favor  and  glory.  All  other  wor- 


100  THE   WOMAN   OP   SAMARIA. 

ship  but  this,  wherever  paid  and  in  whatever 
forms,  is  but  empty  breath  in  the  sight  of  him, 
the  great  Searcher  of  hearts,  with  whom  we  have 
to  do.  Let  this  thought  possess  your  mind  when- 
ever you  kneel  in  the  closet,  bow  in  the  family, 
or  enter  the  sanctuary  to  worship.  God  is  there, 
is  here,  to  notice  the  frame  of  your  spirit,  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  inner  man  ;  and 
while  he  will  graciously  hear  the  humble  and 
contrite  in  spirit,  and  bestow  all  needed  grace  and 
help,  he  will  frown  upon  the  proud,  the  insincere, 
and  the  worldly,  however  gorgeous  the  forms,  or 
imposing  the  rites  in  which  their  worship  is  paid. 


RELIGION   OF  THE  EAST. 


RELIGION  OF  THE  EAST. 


Having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof;  from  such 
turn  away. — 2  TIMOTHY  3  :  5. 

IT  is  remarkable,  that  this  having1  a  form  of 
godliness,  while  the  power  of  it  was  denied,  is 
predicated  of  persons  who,  in  the  context,  are 
represented  as  grossly  immoral  and  wicked, — 
proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient  to  parents,  un- 
thankful, unholy,  truce-breakers,  false  accusers, 
incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are 
good,  traitors,  heady,  high  minded,  lovers  of 
pleasures  more  than  lovers  of  God  ;  having  a 
form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof. 

This  union  of  gross  impiety  and  wickedness, 
with  an  observance  of  the  forms  of  religion,  cannot 
but  strike  us,  as  a  strange  and  most  inconsistent 
anomally  in  human  character.  And  yet  it  is  just 
what  was  exhibited  by  the  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
and  by  great  multitudes  of  the  Jewish  nation,  in 
the  times  of  our  Lord  ;  and  it  is  just  what  is  seen 
at  the  present  day,  in  all  its  deformity  and  offen- 
siveness,  throughout  the  countries  of  the  East, 


104  RELIGION     OP 

whether  we  refer  to  the  followers  of  the  false 
prophet,  or  to  the  various  sects  of  nominal  chris- 
tians.  No  one  thing  is  more  striking  in  the  char- 
acter of  these  people,  than  their  careful  observance 
of  the  forms  of  godliness,  while  they  deny  or  are 
entirely  destitute  of  the  power  thereof,  and  are 
grossly  wicked.  The  truth  is,  man  was  made  to 
be  a  religious  being ;  and  I  mean  by  this,  not 
merely  that  he.  has  intellectual  and  moral  facul- 
ties, which  qualify  him  for  religion,  but  that  in 
his  very  nature  he  has  wants,  deep,  irrepressible 
wants,  which  nothing  but  religion,  in  some  form, 
can  satisfy.  Now  as  men  in  their  apostacy  are 
averse  to  the  true  God  and  the  holy  service  which 
he  requires  of  them,  they  go  about  to  invent  a  god 
of  their  own,  and  a  religion  which  while,  in  some 
sense,  it  satisfies  the  wants  of  the  soul,  shall  at 
the  same  time  gratify  their  pride  and  selfishness, 
and  leave  them  undisturbed  in  their  sins.  This 
accounts  for  all  the  various  systems  of  idolatry 
and  false  religion  in  the  world ;  and  shows  how 
it  is,  that  men  may  be  very  strict  in  observing  the 
forms  of  godliness,  and  yet  live  in  the  practice  of 
every  immorality  and  crime.  This,  as  I  have 
said,  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  religion  of 


THE      EAST.  105 

the  East ;  including  in  that  designation  the  coun- 
tries in  and  around  the  Mediterranean;  especial- 
ly, the  mingled  people  of  the  Turkish  empire, — 
Mohammedans,  Jews,  and  the  various  sects  of 
nominal  Christians. 

It  cannot,  of  course,  be  expected,  that  I  should 
go  into  a  particular  description  of  the  religious 
doctrines  and  practices  which  prevail  in  the 
countries  referred  to.  All  that  can  be  attempted, 
in  a  single  discourse,  is  to  present  some  of  the 
more  general  characteristics  of  the  religion  of  the 
East.  And  my  object  in  doing  this  is  to  make 
you  acquainted  with  the  spirit  and  tendencies  of 
the  religious  systems  which  prevail  there  ;  to  lead 
you  to  a  juster  appreciation  of  your  own  high 
privileges,  and  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Bible,  as  a  spiritual  religion,  and  alone 
adapted  to  raise  us  from  the  degradation  and 
misery  of  sin,  and  fit  us  for  a  holy  and  happy 
heaven. 

1.  In  speaking  of  the  religion  of  the  East,  my 
first  remark  is,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  it.  One 
of  the  first  things  which  attracted  my  notice  on 
approach  ing  and  sailing  along  the  coast  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  and  down  the  Mediterranean,  was 
10 


106  RELIGION     OF 

the  number  of  convents  and  religious  houses  of 
various  name,  which  presented  themselves  from 
the  lofty  head  lands  on  which  they  are  situated. 
At  Gibraltar,  I  saw  less  of  this ;  for  that  place, 
from  a  very  early  period  of  European  history* 
hcis  been  occupied  chiefly  as  a  strong  military 
post  or  fortress;  and  the  people  collected  there, 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand,  are  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  appeared  to  have  very 
little  religion  of  any  kind. 

When  I  reached  Malta,  it  seemed,  as  I  have  said 
elsewhere,  by  far  the  most  religious  place  I  ever 
saw.  Ecclesiastics,  churches,  religious  proces- 
sions, crosses,  ringing  of  bells,  and  people  going 
to  and  from  worship,  arrested  my  attention  wher- 
ever I  went.  Attendance  upon  religious  ceremo- 
nies of  some  kind,  appeared  to  occupy  a  large 
part  of  the  time,  and  to  constitute  the  principal 
business,  or  rather  I  should  say,  amusement  of 
the  people,  for  religion  in  the  East  is  very  much 
a  matter  of  amusement.  The  same  thing,  though 
not  perhaps  in  quite  so  great  a  degree,  I  witness- 
ed in  all  the  Catholic  countries  I  visited.  Reli- 
gion, in  some  form  or  ministration  of  it,  was  a 
most  striking  feature  in  the  moral  landscape. 


THE     EAST.  107 

In  Greece,  in  Turkey  and  Syria,  I  was  every 
where  impressed  with  the  religious  aspect  of 
society  around  me. 

The  Turks  are,  naturally,  a  grave,  and  appar- 
ently devout  people.  As  a  general  fact,  they 
are  remarkably  strict  in  observing  the  rites  of  their 
religion.  Five  times  a  day  the  muezzin,  from 
the  highest  tower  of  the  jami  or  minaret,  sum- 
mons the  faithful  to  their  devotions,  by  crying 
out  in  loud,  plaintive  tones  ;  There  is  no  God  but 
God  ;  Mahomet  is  the  prophet  of  God  ;  come  to 
prayer;  come  to  the  asylum  of  salvation  ;  Great 
God!  There  is  no  God  but  God.  Every  good 
mussulman  prays  at  least  three  times  a  day ;  at 
sunrise,  noon,  and  sunset ;  and  those,  who  ad- 
here more  strictly  to  the  prophet's  command, 
perform  a  similar  act  of  devotion  between  each 
of  those  periods.  I  have  often  been  exceedingly 
struck  with  the  apparent  devoutness  with  which 
the  Turks  perform  their  devotions.  It  makes  no 
difference  where  they  are,  whether  on  a  steam- 
boat, or  in  company,  or  by  the  way-side  ;  when 
the  appointed  hour  comes,  they  go  through  their 
ablutions,  turn  their  faces  towards  Mecca,  and 
say  their  prayers, — if  indeed  that  can  be  called 


108  RELIGION     OF 

prayer,  which  has  neither  confession,  supplica- 
tion, or  intercession,  but  is  simply  an  act  of  hom- 
age to  the  Supreme  Being,  acknowledging  his 
mercy  and  his  omnipotence.*  Friday  is  their 
Sabbath,  when  the  mosques  are  frequented  by 
large  numbers,  and  the  services  are  conducted 
by  imams  or  priests  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
They  are  equally  strict  in  observing  the  feasts 

*The  Turks  appear  very  devout  in  their  religion ;  so  they  do 
in  eating  a  dinner,  and  smoking  a  pipe.  But  grave  and  serious 
as  they  are  wont  to  appear  in  their  devotions,  it  is  no  uncom- 
mon thing  for  them  to  break  off  in  the  midst,  converse,  and 
laugh  and  storm  and  scold,  and  then  fall  to  their  prayers  again. 
This  latter  fact  I  witnessed  in  the  great  mosque  at  Broosa.  A 
Turk  of  high  distinction,  whom  we  saw  there  engaged  in  his 
devotions,  .railed  and  stormed  at  us,  and  our  conductor,  for 
allowing  us  to  enter  the  sacred  place,  though  we  had  a  permit 
from  the  Pasha  to  do  so, — and  having  vented  his  rage,  he  en- 
gaged again  very  devoutly  in  his  prayers.  The  truth  is,  prayer, 
as  understood  and  practiced  by  the  Turks,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  heart.  It  has  seven  conditions  in  order  to  be  accepta- 
ble. 1.  Clean  raiment.  2.  Clean  face,  hands  and  feet, — hence 
ablution  before  prayer.  3.  Clean  place  to  kneel  upon.  4.  The 
face  must  be  towards  Mecca.  5th  and  6th  conditions  not  to  be 
named  for  their  indecency.  7.  There  must  be  an  intention  to 
pray  in  the  manner  and  number  of  times  prescribed.  None  of 
these  conditions  touch  the  heart. 


THE     EAST. 

and  fasts  enjoined  by  their  religion.  The  annual 
fast  of  Ramazan  continues  a  month  ;  during 
which  no  refreshment  of  any  kind  is  allowed  to 
be  taken  from  dawn  in  the  morning,  till  dusk  in 
the  evening,  and  it  is  truly  wonderful  how  gen- 
erally and  strictly  this  long  and  severe  fast  is  ob- 
served by  the  people.  It  is  especially  severe  in 
relation  to  those  who  are  obliged  to  labor  some 
sixteen  hours  a  day,  under  a  burning  sun ;  but 
they  seldom  break  the  law  of  their  fast. 

Every  mussulman  too  is  expected,  in  the  course 
of  his  life,  to  go  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca ;  and  he 
is'under  obligation  to  do  this,  whenever  it  will  not 
take  more  than  half  his  property  to  perform  the 
journey,  being  allowed  to  reserve  the  other  half 
on  which  to  subsist  when  he  returns  home.  The 
religion  of  the  Turks  shows  itself  also  in  various 
chanties,  such  as  feeding  doves,  dogs  and  other 
animals,  in  opening  fountains  and  erecting  cara- 
vanserais, and  places  of  prayer  by  the  way  side, 
for  the  accommodation  of  travelers.  Finally, 
their  religion  displays  itself  in  their  burying 
grounds,  and  on  the  monuments  erected  over 
their  graves,  the  inscriptions  on  which  record 
their  faith  and  their  good  deeds,  and  solicit  the 
10* 


RELIGION     OP 

prayers  of  passers  by ;  for  the  Turks  believe  in 
praying  to  the  dead  and  for  the  dead. 

In  regard  to  the  religion  of  nominal  Christians 
in  the  East,  there  is  certainly  no  lack  of  it,  if 
reference  be  had  merely  to  outward  forms  and 
observances.  These  abound  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  become  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne  ;  ope- 
rating in  many  cases  as  a  most  serious  detriment 
to  the  industry  and  comfortable  subsistence  of  the 
people.  Besides  the  two  weekly  fasts  on  Wed- 
nesday and  Friday,  the  Greek  church  prescribes 
four  Lents  in  each  year,  one  before  Easter, 
another  before  Christmas,  a  third  in  honour  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  and  a  fourth  in  honour  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul.  These  together  make  the 
number  of  days  on  which  fasting  is  enjoined, 
more  than  those  on  which  animal  food  is  allow- 
ed ;  and  the  fast  days  and  feast  days,  noted  both 
in  the  Greek  and  Armenian  Calendars,  exceed, 
by  considerable,  the  whole  number  of  days  in  a 
year,  ^he  services  in  the  churches  are  exceed- 
ingly frequent,  and  often  protracted  through 
many  hours  of  the  day.  During  my  stay  in  Con- 
stantinople, I  was  often  roused  from  my  sleep 


THE     EAST.  Ill 

long  before  day,  by  a  heavy  pounding  on  the 
street  pavement,  designed  to  summon  the  Arme- 
nians to  their  places  of  worship,  and  I  found 
when  present  on  such  occasions,  as  I  sometimes 
was,  that  the  number  in  attendance  at  that  early 
hour  was  large. 

The  Oriental  Christians,  like  the  Mohamme- 
dans, bring  forward  their  religion  on  all  occasions. 
Their  baptisms,  their  marriages,  and  their  funer- 
als are  connected  with  very  numeious  rites  and 
ceremonies.     Some  six  or  seven  distinct  religious 
services  are  performed  for  the  dead,  among  the 
Armenians,  during  the  first  year  after  their  de- 
cease.    They  always  cross  themselves  when  they 
take  their  food,  when  they  kneel,  when  they 
rise  from  prayer,  retire  to  rest,  get  up,   walk, 
dress,  or  engage  in  any  important  business.    The 
presence  of  company  does  not  prevent  them  from 
saying  their  daily  prayers  ;  and  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem  is  deemed  a  sacred  duty,  and  a  service 
of  great  merit,  to  be  performed  by  all  who  are 
not  prevented  by  ill  health,  or  the  want  of  means. 
Hence  thousands  of  pilgrims,  from  all  parts  of  the 
Eastern  world,  annually  resort  to  the  holy  city, 


112  RELIGION     OF 

there  to  perform  their  vows  and  pay  their  wor- 
ship ;  and  when  they  return  home,  they  are  re- 
garded as  saints  of  a  distinguished  order.  These 
few  facts  may  suffice  to  show,  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  religion  of  some  kind  among  the  people 
of  the  East.  I  remark, 

2.  It  costs  a  great  deal.  I  am  satisfied  from 
all  I  saw  and  could  learn,  that  the  amount  ex- 
pended in  this  country  for  the  support  of  reli- 
gion, including  all  religious  charities  of  every 
name,  is  but  a  moiety  of  what  is  spent  for  similar 
purposes  in  the  East.  Mohammedism,  though 
much  more  simple  than  the  forms  of  Christianity 
that  prevail  in  that  part  of  the  world,  is  still  very 
expensive.  There  are  various  orders  in  the 
priesthood,  such  as  Mufti,  Imam,  Sheik  and 
others,  who  are  supported  by  public  endowments 
connected  with  the  mosques,  or  by  private  dona- 
tions for  services  performed.  The  revenues  of 
some  of  the  royal  mosques  are  said  to  amount  to 
the  enormous  sum  of  60,000  pounds  sterling. 

The  clergy  of  all  ranks  at  Constantinople  are 
estimated  at  from  fifteen  to  twentyrfive  thousand. 
Besides  these,  there  are  some  thirty  orders  of 
Dervishes  or  Monks,  who,  as  in  Papal  countries, 


THE      EAST.  113 

live  chiefly  on  chanty  or  by  begging.  The  fasts 
and  feasts  presciibed  in  the  Koran,  are  usually 
observed  with  great  exactness  ;  and  the  cost  of 
these  in  time  and  money  is  by  no  means  small. 
Then  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  which  is  suppo- 
sed to  be  binding  on  every  true  follower  of  the 
prophet,  often  involves  a  great  expense  of  prop- 
erty, and  hazard  of  health  and  life.  It  is  almost 
incredible  what  sums  of  money  are  sometimes 
given  in  charity,  by  wealthy  mussulmen,  when 
performing  their  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  the 
prophet.  And  the  sacrifices  of  animals  on  such 
occasions  are  frequently  enormous ;  sometimes 
amounting  to  many  thousands  of  sheep,  cows 
and  camels. 

In  regard  to  the  various  Christian  sects,  their 
religion,  I  cannot  doubt,  is  much  more  expensive, 
than  that  of  the  Mohammedans.  The  number 
of  ecclesiastics  of  various  orders  is  very  large.  At 
Nicomedia,  there  were  seven  Armenian  priests 
to  about  2000  souls.  And  I  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  proportion  is  much  less  in  other 
places.  In  Malta  the  proportion  is  as  one  to 
every  eighty  or  one  hundred  of  the  inhabitants. 
Many  of  the  churches  are  large  and  costly  edifi- 


114  RELIGION     OF 

ces  ;  and  for  richness  and  splendor  in  their  inte- 
rior, we  have  nothing  in  this  country  to  compare 
with  them.  Paintings,  images,  statuary  meet  you 
on  every  side  ;  and  the  silver  and  gold,  in  the 
form  of  candlesticks  and  lamps,  and  various  other 
church  utensils  and  ornaments,  force  upon  one 
the  impression,  that  religion  in  the  East  costs  a 
great  deal.  To  all  this  must  be  added  the  time 
which  is  spent  in  attending  upon  the  numerous 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  this  religion,  in  keeping 
fast  days  and  feast  days,  and  in  going  on  long, 
expensive  pilgrimages ;  when  all  these  things  are 
considered,  you  will,  I  think,  admit  the  conclu- 
sion to  which  I  was  forced,  when  on  the  ground, 
that  religion  in  that  part  of  the  world  makes 
heavy  demands  on  the  people  for  its  support;  is 
exceedingly  expensive  both  of  time  and  money. 
I  observe, 

3.  This  religion  does  the  people  no  good.  It 
has  a  form  of  godliness  ;  but  it  has  no  power  to 
enlighten,  sanctify,  make  happy  or  save.  It  is, 
in  the  language  of  our  Saviour,  like  salt  which 
has  lost  its  savour ;  it  is  thenceforth  good  for 
nothing,  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot 
of  men.  Mohammedism  lies  as  a  dreadful  curse 


THE     EAST.  115 

upon  the  whole  Turkish  empire.  It  is  a  strange 
compound  of  ignorance,  arrogance,  superstition, 
bigotry  and  sensualism.  It  spreads  blasting  and 
desolation  over  the  very  soil  of  the  country,  and 
over  all  the  best  interests  of  society.  Under  its 
deadening  influence,  the  Turks  are  scarcely 
further  advanced  in  any  of  the  forms  of  civiliza- 
tion, than  they  were  four  centuries  ago. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  for  truthfulness  in  their 
words,  and  good  faith  in  trade,  the  Turks  do  not 
suffer  from  a  comparison  with  their  native  Chris- 
tian neighbors.  But  this  is  very  meagre  praise, 
when  it  is  considered,  how  miserably  degraded 
are  their  Christian  neighbors  in  point  of  morals. 
The  Turks,  I  believe,  are  naturally  a  noble  race 
of  men.  They  have  "germs  of  character,  which, 
if  fostered  by  a  proper  moral  influence,  would 
give  them  a  high  rank  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth."  But  their  religion  is  their  destruction. 
It  represses  all  that  is  free,  generous,  noble  in 
their  nature,  and  subjects  them  to  a  miserable 
bigotry,  ignorance,  pride  and  blood-thirsty  cruel- 
ty. The  Koran,  the  Bible  of  the  Turk,  made 
up  of  Paganism,  Judaism,  and  corrupted  Chris- 
tianity, is  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land,  civil, 
political  and  religious;  and  it  is  the  great  support 


116  RELIGION      OF 

of  the  despotism,  which  every  where  crushes  the 
people  to  the  earth.  It  has  swept  many  of  the 
fairest  portions  of  the  globe  as  with  the  besom  of 
destruction.  Where  once  religion  and  civiliza- 
tion flourished,  and  the  people  were  compara- 
tively enlightened,  industrious  and  happy,  you 
now  behold  only  the  monuments  of  departed 
greatness,  and  signs  of  a  widespread  and  general 
desolation.  And  when  you  seek  for  the  cause  of 
this,  you  are  constrained  to  believe,  it  is  found, 
chiefly,  in  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet.  It 
allows  no  liberty  to  the  subject,  but  puts  all 
power  into  the  hands  of  the  Sultan  ;  it  paralyzes 
industry  and  enterprise  ;  is  opposed  to  all  change 
or  improvement  in  the  state  of  society,  and  con- 
sequently holds  the  people  at  large  in  a  condition 
of  extreme  ignorance  and  sluggishness.  Educa- 
tion, so  far  as  it  exists  at  all,  is  almost  exclusively 
limited  to  the  religion  of  the  Koran,  and  is  oppo- 
sed to  every  other  kind  of  knowledge,  and  to 
every  other  source  of  information  not  Mohamme- 
dan. The  religion  of  the  Turk  necessarily  makes 
him  arrogant,  bigoted  and  revengeful.  He  is 
taught  from  his  earliest  years  to  look  with  con- 
tempt upon  all  who  are  not  of  his  faith  ;  he  con- 
signs them  at  once  to  the  fires  of  hell,  and  while 


THE     EAST.  117 

he  never  prays  for  the  conversion  of  infidels,  as 
he  calls  them,  nor  seeks  to  convince  them  by 
argument,  he  deems  it  altogether  right  and  mer- 
itorious to  propagate  his  religion  by  fire  and 
sword.  He  is  indeed  uniform  and  apparently 
devout  in  his  prayers,  but  at  the  same  time  in- 
dulges the  most  fierce  and  violent  passions ;  is 
addicted  to  gross  sensuality,  and  to  crimes  which 
decency  forbids  me  to  name ;  and  perfectly  as- 
sured that  no  follower  of  the  prophet  can  possibly 
be  lost  or  fail  of  entering  paradise^  his  conscience 
is  kept  quiet  in  the  midst  of  his  sensualism  and 
crimes,  and  he  usually  meets  death  with  a  singu- 
lar degree  of  indifference  and  repose. 

Such,  briefly,  is  the  influence  of  Mohammed- 
ism,  an  influence  devoid  of  all  that  purifies  the 
heart,  and  elevates  the  character,  and  operates 
only  to  depress,  to  brutalize,  and  to  remove  its 
disciples  further  and  further,  from  all  fitness  for 
the  enjoyment  of  God  and  a  holy  heaven. 

The  same  substantially  is  the  influence  of  the 
various  corrupt  forms  of  Christianity  which  pre- 
vail in  the  Eastern  world.  One  characteristic 
belongs  to  them  all ;  they  are  destitute  of  spirit- 
ual life  ;  are  mere  dead  forms ;  having  no  con- 
11 


118  RELIGION     OF 

nection  with  purity  of  heart  and  holiness  of  con- 
duct ;  but  are  satisfied  with  an  observance  of 
outward  rites  and  ceremonies.  This  is  the  grand 
delusion  which  prevails  in  all  the  Oriental 
churches.  Their  religion,  though  so  abundant 
and  costly,  is  devoid  of  inward  principle ;  an  ab- 
straction ;  something  outward  and  visible,  like 
Pharisaism  of  old  ;  not  a  thing  to  be  taken  into 
the  bosom  to  purify  the  affections  and  regulate 
the  life  ;  but  a  thing  to  be  done  up  and  laid 
aside,  as  you  do  any  outward  task,  and  then  full 
liberty  is  supposed  to  be  allowed  to  do  whatever 
one  pleases.  Hence,  scarcely  any  thing  is  more 
common  among  Eastern  Christians,  whether  Ro- 
man Catholic,  Greek,  Armenian,  Syrian  or  Cop- 
tic, than  to  see  the  grossest  immoralities  connect- 
ed with  a  very  exact  and  devout  observance  of 
religious  duties.*  I  have  mentioned  on  a  former 

*  Such  cases  sometimes  occur  among  professing  Christians  in 
this  land  ;  but  they  are  insulated  cases,  comparatively  rare,  and 
no  one  thinks  of  justifying  them,  or  supposes  them  consistent 
with  religion.  Whereas  in  the  East,  the  severance  of  morality 
from  religion  is  exceedingly  common,  so  common  that  its  total 
inconsistency  with  piety  is  not  seen,  and  gross  immorality  is 
deemed  no  evidence  that  a  man  is  not  a  good  Christian. 

The  following  fact  is  stated  by  the  Rev.  J.  Hartley,  in  his  Re- 
searches in  Greece  and  the  Levant,  page  59. 


TH  E     EAST. 

occasion,  the  case  of  a  Greek,  in  the  island  of 
Spetzia,  who,  in  pursuit  of  a  Turk  to  put  him  to 
death,  rushed  into  a  church  where  he  supposed 
he  might  find  him  ;  but  failing-  of  his  object,  he 

"  Some  Samiot  freebooters,  in  the  course  of  a  plundering  ex- 
pedition to  the  neighborhood  of  Smyrna,  entered  a  Greek  house 
and  demanded  food.  Animal  food  was  presented  to  them.  They 
shrunk  from  it  with  abhorrence — "  how  could  they  be  guilty  of 
such  a  sin  ?"  "  I  have  made  voyages  with  Greeks  of  the  most 
vicious  character.  They  were  men  who  seemed  to  indulge, 
without  restraint,  in  profaneness,  falsehood  and  licentiousness ; 
and  yet  these  very  persons,  when  they  observed  me  partaking 
of  animal  food  on  their  fast  days,  have  turned  from  me  as  a  per- 
son guilty  of  a  great  sin  to  which  they  were  happily  strangers." 
"  The  union  which  is  observable  between  a  rigid  attention  to 
certain  ordinances  of  religion,  and  an  open  violation  of  its  most 
important  precepts,  is  easily  explained.  The  human  mind  is 
seldom  so  entirely  insensible  to  the  superior  interests  of  eterni- 
ty, as  to  neglect  every  species  of  preparation  for  them.  It  looks 
for  something,  either  active  or  passive,  either  great  or  small, 
which  may  in  some  degree  still  the  voice  of  conscience,  and  im- 
part hope  on  approaching  the  grave.  Amongst  the  Greeks,  the 
injunctions  of  abstinence  afford  a  most  convenient  resource  of 
this  description.  Whatever  crime  may  have  been  committed, 
the  reflection,  that  strict  obedience  has  been  rendered  to  the 
self-denying  command  of  abstinence,  presents  a  soporific  to  the 
conscience,  otherwise  ready  to  be  startled  by  an  alarm  of  guilt ; 
and,  practically,  dependence  is  placed  on  it,  as  on  an  atonement 
sufficient  to  expiate  the  offence." 


120 


RELIGION     OP 


turned  to  go  out,  when,  catching  a  sight  of  an 
image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  he  stopped,  performed 
his  devotions,  went  out,  found  his  victim  and 
imbrued  his  hands  in  his  blood. 

It  was  stated  to  me  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  T.  that 
while  he  resided  as  missionary  at  Malta,  three 
men  were  concerned  in  killing  and  robbing  a 
man  of  his  money  ;  and  then  to  make  atonement 
for  the  crime,  they  agreed  to  give  a  third  of  their 
plunder  in  charity,  another  third  to  the  priest,  and 
keep  the  remainder  themselves;  and  this  process, 
in  their  view,  discharged  their  consciences  of  all 
guilt. 

You  have  doubtless  heard  of  the  Greek 
pirates,  condemned  and  executed  in  Malta  some 
years  since,  for  robbery  on  the  high  seas.  It  ap- 
peared at  their  trial,  that  in  plundering  a  certain 
vessel,  while  they  seized  every  vegetable  article 
of  food  on  board,  a  barrel  of  fish  was  left  un- 
touched. The  court  demanded  the  reason.  The 
pirates  replied  that,  it  being  Lent  when  they 
robbed  the  vessel,  the  use  of  fish  was  then  pro- 
hibited by  the  Greek  church  ;  and  God  forbid 
they  should  be  guilty  of  breaking  their  church's 
laws.  They  could  rob  and  murder  on  the  high 


THE      E AST  . 

seas ;  but  they  were  too  religious  to  eat  fish  in 
Lent. 

It  is  related  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hartley,  in  his 
Researches  in  Greece  and  the  Levant,  that  a 
bishop,  on  a  journey  through  a  distiict  of  Maina, 
was  waylaid  and  plundered,  and  then  permitted 
to  proceed.  But  it  soon  occurred  to  the  robbers, 
that  he  would  procure  their  excommunication 
from  the  church,  as  soon  as  he  arrived  at  a  place 
of  safety.  In  apprehension  of  this,  they  went  in 
pursuit  of  the  unhappy  prelate,  and  actually  put 
him  to  death.  They  were  too  pious  to  be  cut  off 
from  the  church,  but  not  to  rob  and  murder. 

I  will  mention  another  case.  It  occurred  a  lew 
miles  from  Constantinople,  and  not  long  before  I 
was  there.  Two  Armenians  hired  a  smith's  shop 
of  a  Greek,  containing  an  anvil  and  some  other 
tools  necessary  to  carry  on  their  business,  for 
which  they  were  to  pay  a  certain  sum  quarterly. 
At  the  close  of  the  quarter,  the  Greek  went  to  get 
his  rent.  But  lo !  only  the  shop  was  to  be  found, 
Armenians,  anvil,  tools  and  all  had  disappeared. 
On  making  inquiry,  he  found  that  his  pious  ten- 
ants, thinking  they  were  called  to  a  higher  and 
more  sacred  vocation,  had  made  off  with  them- 
11* 


122  RELIGION     OF 

selves,  taking  with  them  all  they  could  carry; 
and  having-  applied  to  a  bishop  for  ordination,* 
had  by  him  been  duly  inducted  into  the  ministry, 
and  made  priests  in  the  true  line  of  Apostolical 
succession.f 

*  It  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  both  in  the  Greek  and  Armenian 
churches,  almost  any  person,  however  destitute  of  the  proper 
qualifications,  may  obtain  ordination  by  striking  a  bargain  with 
a  bishop,  and  paying  him  well  for  his  services. 

t  If  being  ordained  by  a  bishop,  or  being  found  in  the  line  of 
"  Apostolical  succession,"  as  it  is  called,  is  as  some  teach,  the 
essential  element  of  a  valid  ministry,  then  these  thieving  Ar- 
menian blacksmiths  were  just  as  veritable  priests,  as  any  that 
have  been  ordained,  either  by  English  or  American  bishops. 
That  is,  according  to  this  class  of  teachers,  no  errors  in  doctrine 
or  wickedness  in  life,  whether  in  bishop,  or  in  priest,  or  in 
both,  can  invalidate  "  orders,"  provided  only  that  the  formalities 
of  consecration  have  been  duly  observed ;  but  the  absence  of  a 
single  one  of  these  formalities, — the  imposition  of  a  bishop's 
hands, — makes  null  and  void  the  ministry  of  every  denomina- 
tion, however  characterized  by  truth  and  piety  that  ministry  may 
be.  One  inference  from  which  is, — an  inference  too  practically 
carried  out  by  many, — that  the  Romish  church  and  the  corrupt 
churches  of  the  East,  are  to  be  acknowledged  as  "  sister 
churches,"  "  branches  of  the  one  true  Apostolical  church ;" 
while  all  Protestant  non-episcopal  churches  of  every  name,  are 
to  be  discarded  as  no  churches,  and  no  fellowship  or  commun- 
ion with  them  is  to  be  tolerated.  Some  sentiments  are  so  gross- 
ly absurd  that  a  bare  statement  of  them  is  the  best  possible  refu- 


THE     EAST.  123 

Facts  of  this  kind,  going  to  show  the  entire 
severance  of  morality  from  religion,  in  the  East- 
ern churches,  might  be  mentioned  almost  without 

tation.  The  dogma  just  named  is  of  this  character.  The  truth 
is,  the  notion  of  "  succession,"  as  being  essential  to  a  true 
church  and  a  valid  ministry,  is  a  mere  figment  of  the  imagina- 
tion, or  as  one  "  of  their  own  order"  calls  it,  the  "  stupidity 
and  fables  of  Romanists."  Just  as  if  the  imposition  of  a  bishop's 
hands,  by  virtue  of  something  no  body  knows  what,  derived  by 
"  succession"  from  the  Apostles,  no  body  knows  how,  could 
suffice  to  make  a  very  good  priest  out  of  a  graceless  profligate,  or 
a  blacksmith  thief,  while  for  the  want  of  that  nameless  some- 
thing, communicated  only  by  prelatical^  hands,  no  matter  how 
impure  and  wicked,  such  ministers  as  Isaac  Watts,  Philip  Dod- 
dridge,  Robert  Hall  and  Jonathan  Edwards,  indeed,  the  whole 
body  of  non-episcopal  clergy  in  the  world,  are  to  be  regarded  as 
no  ministers,  mere  intruders  into  the  sacred  office,  and  all  ordi- 
nances administered  by  them  are  invalid  and  worthless.  A  sen- 
timent like  this  is  to  be  repudiated  as  ineflably  foolish  and  ab- 
surd ;  the  arguments  against  it  are  infinite,  in  favor  of  it  no- 
thing. "  It  is  alike  destitute  of  evidence,  and  an  outrage  on  all 
Christian  charity."  Kee  Edinburgh  Review,  April,  1843.  Arti- 
cle Puseyism. 

It  may  be  admitted,  that  church  government  is  of  divine  ap- 
pointment, an  ordinance  of  God,  just  as  civil  government  is, — 
that  is,  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  his  friends  should  be  formed 
into  societies  with  such  officers  and  rules,  as  are  adapted  to 
secure  the  great  object  of  their  organization,  the  increase  of 
personal  holiness  in  their  members,  and  the  spread  of  true  reli- 
gion over  the  world.  And  that  form  of  church  government  is 


124  RELIGION     OF 

number.  The  truth  is,  as  I  have  said,  religion  is 
there  regarded  as  a  thing  by  itself;  having  no 
connection  whatever  with  life  and  manners. 

nearest  the  divine  model,  and  most  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
will,  which  is  best  adapted  to  promote  the  two  fold  object  here 
specified.  Neither  in  respect  to  civil  or  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment, is  any  precise  form  prescribed  in  the  Scriptures.  All 
forms  of  government  are  of  divine  authority,  just  in  proportion 
as  they  are  adapted  to  answer  the  great  end  or  design  of  gov- 
ernment, the  improvement  of  the  people  in  knowledge,  virtue, 
piety  and  happiness.  As  the  divine  right  of  kings  has  been  ex- 
ploded as  a  relic  of  the  dark  ages,  so  the  divine  right  of  bishops, 
having  the  same  origin,  should  be  consigned  to  the  same  cate- 
gory- 
Suppose  that  Nicholas,  Autocrat  of  Russia,  should  rise  up  and 
claim  that  his  is  the  only  divinely  authorized  government  in  the 
world ;  that  Louis  Philippe,  King  of  France,  should  do  the  same ; 
and  that  the  Queen  of  England,  and  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  should  put  forth  a  like  pretension,  each  claiming  that  his 
is  the  only  government  in  the  world,  resting  on  divine  authority. 
What  would  be  thought  of  such  a  claim  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury ?  It  would  be  scouted  as  an  absurdity  too  weak  and  foolish 
to  be  met  with  serious  argument.  How  far  from  being  worthy 
of  the  same  treatment  is  the  claim  set  forth  by  some  professedly 
Christian  denominations,  that  theirs,  respectively,  is  the  only 
true  church,  theirs  the  only  authorized  ministry,  and  theirs  the 
only  valid  ordinances  ?  We  expect  this  of  Popery ;  we  find  it 
in  the  Greek  church,  and  it  is  the  very  spirit  of  Moham- 
medism ;  but  Protestants, — alas !  that  any  should  be  found  to 


THE     EAST.  125 

Hence,  one  may  be  a  very  good  Christian,  and  yet 
a  very  bad  man.  Persons  notorious  for  profane- 
ness,  falsehood  and  licentiousness,  are  often  most 
scrupulously  exact  in  observing-  the  appointed 
ceremonies  of  their  church,  and  account  it  a  sin 
hardly  to  be  forgiven  for  one  to  take  animal  food 
on  days  set  apart  for  fasting. 

The  various  orders  of  clergy  in  the  Oriental 
churches  are, to  a  deplorable  extent,  a  demoralized 
and  wicked  class  of  men.  Great  numbers  of  them 

advocate  so  anti-christian  and  pernicious  a  dogma.  It  is  to 
offer  a  cool  and  deliberate  insult  to  nineteen-twentieths  of  the 
Christian  people  in  this  country ;  as  much  so  as  it  would  be  for  a 
petty  political  party  to  rise  up  in  this  land  of  the  Puritans,  and 
denounce  their  descendants  as  no  citizens,  mere  intruders  upon 
the  soil  and  usurpers  of  the  functions  of  government ;  though 
their  fathers  owned  the  soil,  cleared  it  of  its  forests,  defended  it 
with  their  blood,  and  established  the  government  and  the  schools 
and  colleges,  and  various  institutions  which  exist  to  bless  the 
people  as  at  this  day.  Let  the  dogma  which  thus  unchurches 
all  denominations  of  Christians  but  one,  and  turns  them  over  "  to 
uncovenanted  mercy,"  be  put  away,  by  all  who  call  them- 
selves Christians,  as  a  shame  and  a  reproach  to  the  Christian 
name ;  and  let  love  and  fellowship  flow  forth  towards  all  whom 
Christ  loves,  communes  with,  and  is  training  up  for  heaven. 
To  all  such  of  whatever  name,  grace,  mercy  and  peace  be  mul- 
tiplied. 


126  RELIGION     OF 

are  sunk  in  gross  ignorance,  and  in  their  general 
character,  are  a  disgrace,  not  only  to  their  sacred 
profession,  but  to  common  morality  and  decency. 
Preaching  is  far  from  being  regarded  as  an  import- 
ant part  of  their  duty.  Their  principal  business  is 
to  perform  mass,  and  say  prayers  for  the  people ; 
and  the  prayers  throughout  all  the  East,  both 
among  Mohammedans  and  Christians,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Greek  Arabs  in  Syria,  are  in  a; 
language  not  at  all  understood  by  the  people. 
This  indeed  is  not  thought  in  the  least  necessary. 
The  proper  idea  of  Eastern  worship  is,  that  of  the 
priest  performing  service  for  the  people.  The 
priest  is  every  thing;  the  people  nothing ;  and 
in  so  far  as  it  respects  the  utility  and  acceptable- 
ness  of  their  worship,  it  makes  no  difference, 
whether  they  understand  a  word  of  the  service  or 
not.  Indeed,  I  can  hardly  conceive  of  any  thing 
in  the  form  of  religion  more  unintelligible,  sense- 
less and  profitless,  than  the  worship  I  have  often 
witnessed  in  Greek,  Armenian  and  Catholic 
churches.  Instruction,  none  is  given ;  it  is  all  a 
round  of  unmeaning  ceremonies,  kissing  the 
pictures,  crossings,  manipulations,  genuflexions, 
burning  incense,  sprinkling  holy  water  and  the 


THE     EAST. 

like.  Services,  such  as  these,  it  is  manifest,  can 
have  no  good  effect  upon  the  people.  They  can- 
not enlighten  the  mind  ;  they  cannot  quicken  the 
conscience;  they  cannot  sanctify  the  heart;  they 
cannot  improve  the  character,  nor  fit  the  soul  for 
heaven.  Christianity  indeed,  as  understood  and 
believed  by  the  churches  of  the  East,  has  lost 
its  vital,  saving  principles.  It  is  a  dead  letter  ; 
and  the  ministration  of  it,  as  it  now  prevails,  is  a 
ministration  of  absurdity  and  folly,  serving  only 
to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance  and  sin.  Regen- 
eration is  by  baptism.  This  wipes  away  original 
sin,  and  all  actual  sin  previously  committed,  and 
brings  the  subject  into  a  state  of  grace  and  salva- 
tion. This  delusive  doctrine  is  held  universally 
in  the  churches  of  the  East ;  and  of  any  other  or 
more  spiritual  regeneration,  as  effected  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  operating  on  the  heart,  both  priests 
and  people  are  profoundly  ignorant.  Justifica- 
tion is  not  by  a  living  faith,  but  the  observance  of 
ceremonies  ;  repentance  is  penance,  confessing 
to  the  priest  and  doing  what  he  prescribes  ;  Chris- 
tian doctrine  is  what  the  church  teaches  ;  prayer 
is  a  mere  matter  of  the  lips,  repeating  words  in 
an  unknown  tongue  ;  the  rule  of  faith  is  not  the 
Bible,  but  tradition,  or  the  decrees  of  councils ; 


128  RELIGION     OF 

holiness  is  observing  the  rites  of  the  church,  and 
whoever  does  this  is  pronounced  a  saint,  and  is 
sure  of  heaven.  Add  to  these  the  dogmas  of 
transubstantiation,  worshipping  the  Virgin  Mary, 
praying  to  the  dead  and  for  the  dead,  going  on 
pilgrimages  and  the  like;  and  you  then  have  some 
faint  idea  of  the  religion  of  the  East, — a  mere  pa- 
geant, a  show,  a  thing  without  life  and  without 
power.*  No  wonder  that  the  people  where  it 
prevails,  are  sunk  in  ignorance,  are  demoralized, 
superstitious,  debased,  and  miserable  in  their 
temporal  condition.  In  point  of  morals,  the 
Turks,  it  is  generally  believed,  are  superior  to 
their  Christian  neighbors.  But  neither  of  them 
has  much  to  boast  on  this  score.  The  morals  of 
both  are  deplorably  low  ;  and  the  religion  of  both, 
being  a  religion  of  dead  forms,  entirely  without 
the  power  of  godliness,  has  no  tendency  to  re- 
claim them  from  the  dominion  of  error  and  sin  ; 
or  make  them  holy  and  happy,  either  in  this 
world  or  in  that  which  is  to  come.  It  is  salt  which 
has  lost  its  savor,  and  is  good  for  nothing. 

4.  The  religion  of  the  East,  which  is  so  abun- 

*  For  a  particular  account  of  the  doctrines  and  rites  of  the  Ar- 
menian church,  see  Colman's  Christian  Antiquities,  p.  466. 


THE     EAST. 

• 

dant,  so  costly,  and  at  the  same  time  so  worthless* 
has  a  strong  hold  on  the  minds  of  the  people ; 
and  it  is  very  difficult  to  draw  them  off  from 
their  attachment  to  it.  The  stability  of  Eastern 
customs  is  proverbial.  The  people  are  strongly 
averse  to  change  in  anything;  and  especially  so, 
in  respect  to  their  religion.  The  short  argument 
by  which  they  are  wont  to  repel  all  attempts  to 
convince  them  of  the  errors  of  their  religious  sys- 
tems, and  to  persuade  them  to  embrace  a  purer 
faith,  is  by  saying,  "  our  religion  is  that  of  our  an- 
cestors ;  it  was  good  for  them,  and  why  should 
we  change  it  for  another  V  It  is  to  be  re- 
marked too,  that  the  religions  of  which  I  am 
speaking,  are  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  corrupt 
nature  of  man.  They  gratify  his  pride  and  his 
selfishness  ;  give  indulgence  to  his  appetites  and 
passions,  and  at  the  same  time,  quiet  his  con- 
science and  allay  his  fears,  by  securing  for  him  a 
firm  hope  of  happiness  after  death. 

These  religions,  also,  are  maintained  by  the 
civil  power ;  they  are  interwoven  with  the  in- 
stitutions and  laws  of  the  state  ;  and  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  which  they  prescribe  are  sanctioned  by 

the  authority  of  government.     This  is  especially 
12 


RELIGION     OP 

true  of  the  religion  of  the  Turks.  It  is  established 
by  law,  and  defection  from  it  is  punished  with 
death.  No  Mohammedan  can  think  of  changing 
his  religion  but  with  the  certain  prospect  of  losing 
his  head.  This  was  universally  the  fact,  till  the 
early  part  of  the  last  year,  when  an  arrangement 
was  made  with  the  Porte,  by  some  of  the  foreign 
ambassadors,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the 
barbarous  law  of  the  Koran,  which  punishes  apos- 
tacy  with  death,  should  not  hereafter  be  executed. 
Whether  the  arrangement  will  avail  any  thing  in 
practice  time  must  show. 

It  has  been  commonly  supposed  of  late,  that 
Mohammedism  is  losing  its  hold  on  the  people  ;  is 
waxing  old  and  ready  to  vanish  away.  I  have 
seen  no  evidence  to  convince  me  that  this  is  the 
fact,  at  least  on  any  large  scale.  It  is  true,  in- 
deed, that  the  Ottoman  empire  is  decaying  and 
becoming  weak ;  and  this  may,  in  some  sense, 
have  an  unfavorable  effect  on  the  religion  of  the 
empire.  It  is  true  also  that  the  intercourse  of 
foreigners,  much  more  common  now  than  former- 
ly, together  with  the  education  of  many  of  the 
Turkish  youth  in  Europe,  has  tended  to  some  ex- 
tent, especially  among  the  higher  classes,  to  in- 


THE     EAST. 


131 


troduce  more  liberal  sentiments,  and  to  shake  the 
faith  once  reposed  in  the  prophet.  But  by  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  throughout  the  empire, 
Mohammedism  is  as  firmly  believed  and  rigidly 
practiced  as  ever.  It  now  holds  sway  over 
140,000,000  of  people,  among  whom  there  are 
probably  not  near  as  many  infidels  and  sceptics, 
as  among  an  equal  number  of  people  living  in 
Christian  lands. 

The  truth  is  Mohammedism  has  hitherto  been 
walled  in,  as  it  were,  from  the  whole  civilized 
world.  In  its  arrogance  and  bigotry,  it  has 
spurned  at  all  light,  and  refused  all  intercourse 
with  the  science  and  learning  of  modern  times. 
Its  devotees  are  of  course  miserably  ignorant,  and 
in  proportion  to  their  ignorance,  is  the  strength 
of  their  attachment  to  their  faith.  It  is  a  faith 
too,  which  is  taught  them  in  their  earliest  years. 
It  is  associated  with  all  the  deepest  impressions 
and  thoughts  of  childhood  and  youth.  The  Turk- 
ish children  spend  their  first  years  in  the  harem, 
with  the  women  of  the  household,  and  there 
they  are  carefully  instructed  in  the  principles  of 
their  religion.  Their  education  in  the  schools,  so 
far  as  there  are  any,  is  conducted  on  the  same 


132 


REL IGION      OF 


plan.  The  principal  thing  taught  is  the  Koran  ; 
so  that  they  grow  up  with  Mohammedism  en- 
grained, as  it  were,  into  their  very  being  ;  and  it 
is  the  last  thing  they  think  of  parting  with,  and 
in  point  of  fact  is  the  last  thing  which,  in  any 
circumstances,  they  can  be  persuaded  to  give  up. 
The  consequence  is,  very  little  has  been  attempt- 
ed, and  very  little  done,  in  the  way  of  converting 
the  followers  of  the  false  prophet. 

The  attachment  of  the  different  sects  of  chris- 
tians  in  the  East  to  their  religious  systems,  is 
scarcely  less  tenacious  and  abiding.  It  often 
seemed  to  me,  when  there,  that  it  is,  in  many  re- 
spects, more  difficult  to  introduce  a  pure  gospel 
into  the  Oriental  churches  than  among  the  na- 
tions of  heathenism.*  And  so  it  has  been  found 


*  There  is  an  infernal  originality  in  apostate  Christianity ;  it 
is  the  master  effort  of  the  Prince  of  darkness.  It  sanctions 
error,  by  the  declaration — Thus  saith  Jehovah.  It  conceals 
perdition  under  the  sound  of  salvation.  It  transforms  the 
church  of  Christ  into  a  synagogue  of  Satan,  and  thus  converts 
the  blessings  of  God  into  curses,  and  draws  an  eternal  poison 
from  the  well-springs  of  salvation.  This  is  apostate  Christianity 
in  the  churches  of  the  East.  Can  there  be  any  thing  more 
iniquitous  or  appalling,  in  the  systems  ofHindooismor  barbari- 
an polytheism  ?  Is  not  Satan  more  ruinous,  more  fearful  in  his 
power,  when  he  appears  as  an  angel  of  light,  than  when  he  dis- 


THE      EAST.  133 

by  actual  experiment.  Many  heathen  tribes 
have,  by  the  labors  of  modern  missionaries,  been 
converted  to  Christ;  but  few,  comparatively,  in 
the  corrupt  churches  of  the  East,  have  been 
drawn  off  from  their  errors  and  delusions  to  em- 
brace a  spiritual  religion.  The  religious  systems 
of  the  East  are  artfully  and  most  successfully 
constructed  to  bewilder,  corrupt  and  crush  the 
human  mind.  They  have  enough  of  truth  to 
give  them  an  air  of  plausibility  in  the  view  of 
the  ignorant  and  unreflecting.  They  appeal 
powerfully  to  the  senses  and  imagination.  They 
have  pictures  and  images,  and  pageants  of  various 
kinds.  They  have  many  holidays  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  people,  and  many  processions  and 
pompous  shows  for  the  same  purpose.  They 
have  a  priesthood  gorgeously  arrayed,  and  apos- 
tolically  descended.  They  have  splendid  church- 
es, richly  ornamented,  and  numerous  rites  and 
ceremonies,  and  all  things  grand  and  impo- 
sing in  the  view  of  an  illiterate,  pleasure  loving 
people.  All  this  display  of  pomp  and  gran- 
deur and  sacredness,  it  should  be  remember- 

covers  himself  in  his  true  character  of  a  fiend  of  darkness  ? — 
Hartley's  Researches,  p.  79. 

12* 


134  RELIGION     OP 

ed,  is  kept  continually  before  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  They  see  it  from  childhood  upwards. 
They  are  taken,  as  soon  as  they  can  walk,  and 
led  into  the  churches,  and  there,  as  I  have  often 
seen,  are  taught  to  kneel  before  the  pictures,  to 
kiss  them,  and  to  go  through  the  various  forms  of 
worship,  and  thus  these  forms  are  associated  with, 
their  earliest  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  in  riper 
years,  come  to  exert  a  most  powerful  and  unresist- 
ed  sway  over  them.  Added  to  all  the  common  be- 
lief that  adherence  to  their  particular  church  is  es- 
sential to  salvation;  that  damnation  is  sure  to  fol- 
lowevery  heretic;  and  then  the  sleepless  vigilance 
of  a  jealous  and  bigoted  priesthood,  ready  to  take 
the  alarm  at  the  discovery  of  the  least  inclination 
to  change,  and  to  excommunicate  and  persecute 
unto  death  all  who  do  change  their  faith  or  gp 
out  from  their  fold, — take  into  view  all  these 
things,  and  you  will  not  be  surprised  that  the 
religion  of  the  East  has  a  very  strong  hold  on  the 
minds  of  the  people ;  and  that  to  bieak  that  hold 
and  bring  the  people  to  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  the  truth,  requires  a  power  which  none  but  God 
can  exert.  But  this  brings  before  us  a  subject 
which  may  occupy  our  attention  at  another  time. 


THE     EAST.  135 

And  now,  as  we  review  the  picture  which  has 
been  presented, — and  many,  very  many  even 
darker  shades  might  be  added ;  how  affecting  the 
thought  that  these  corrupt  and  corrupting  systems 
of  religion  prevail  over  the  very  lands,  where 
the  pure  gospel  was  once  triumphant ;  where 
churches  were  formed  by  the  Apostles  them- 
selves ;  where  patriarchs  and  prophets  lie  entomb- 
ed; where  the  Saviour  taught  and  wrought  mira- 
cles, and  where  he  died  for  the  world's  redemp- 
tion ?  How  great,  how  melancholy  the  change  ! 
Age  after  age,  Christianity,  in  its  primitive  char- 
acter, has  ceased  from  these  lands.  'Doctrine has 
become  corrupt ;  discipline  has  disappeared  ;  mo- 
rality is  no  more.  Apostacy  is  stamped  upon  the 
churches  which  once  shone  as  lights  in  the  world. 
Where  idol  temples  once  fell,  and  where  they  still 
attest,  by  their  ruins,  the  resistless  force  of  primi- 
tive Christianity,  the  visible  temple  of  God  has 
fallen,  and  great  has  been  the  fall  of  it.  So  total 
has  been  the  demolition,  that  the  very  language 
of  our  Saviour,  descriptive  of  the  ruin  of  another 
temple,  has  become  too  applicable  to  this  edifice,' 
— not  one  stone  is  left  upon  another,  that  is  not 
thrown  down. 


136  RELIGION     OF 

What  now  was  the  cause  of  this  disastrous  over- 
throw, of  this  wide  spread  apostacy,  of  this  in- 
coming of  a  false  and  spurious  religion  1     A  great 
question  ;  one  which  would  well  repay  a  careful 
investigation ;  but  time  forbids  me  to  enter  upon 
it  now.     I  will  only  touch  upon  a  few  points.     It 
may  be  admitted  that  the  churches  planted  by  the 
Apostles  were,  comparatively,  pure  both  in  doc- 
trine and  practice.     But  long  before  the  death  of 
the  last  of  the  Apostles,  the  mystery  of  iniquity 
had  began  to  work.     False  teachers  came  in  and 
corrupted  the  churches  from   the  simplicity  of 
their  faith.     They  insisted  upon  the  observance 
of  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  times  and  seasons ; 
taught  the  necessity  of  circumcision  in  order  to  be 
saved,  and  revived  various  rites  of  the  Mosaic  law, 
which  had  been  done  away  by  the  gospel.     This 
process  went  on,  till  rites  and  forms  came  to  take 
the  place  of  spiritual  religion,  and  men  began  to 
be  satisfied  with  a  round  of  pious  observances. 
Then  the  churches  began  to  assume  an  air  of 
pomp  and  show,  and  ceremony.    Their  worship, 
no  longer  simple,  spiritual,  pioceeding  from  the 
heart,   became   complicated,  gorgeous,   showy ; 
various    orders    of  priesthood  were    introduced 


THE     EAST.  137 

from  one  to  three,  and  then  to  seven  and  nine, 
as  in  the  Greek  and  Armenian  churches ;  and 
pride,  ambition,  envy  and  jealousy,  followed  of 
course.  Then  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  the 
heathen  and  make  Christianity  palatable  to  their 
taste,  various  of  their  rites  were  introduced  into 
the  church,  only  baptizing  them  with  a  Christian 
name  ;  heathen  philosophy  usurped  the  place  of 
Christian  doctrine  ;  spirituality  decayed  and  died 
under  a  load  of  senseless  forms  and  outward  ob- 
servances ;  the  clergy,  instead  of  performing  their 
sacred  functions  in  simplicity  of  faith  and  prayer, 
holding  forth  the  word  of  life  to  enlighten  the 
people,  became  proud,  luxurious,  worldly,  indo- 
lent, ignorant ;  and  so  things  went  on  from  bad  to 
worse,  till  at  length,  in  the  close  of  the  fifth  and 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  the  churches, 
having  lost  well  nigh  all  spirituality  in  worship 
and  soundness  in  doctrine,  and  split  up  and  divi- 
ded among  themselves,  were  prepared  to  embrace 
any  form  of  error  and  adopt  any  kind  of  worship. 
Then  the  Mohammedan  delusion  burst  forth  like 
a  tempest  and  swept  every  thing  before  it.  The 
effects  of  its  terrible  power  are  now  seen  in  the 
corrupt  and  dead  forms  of  religion,  which  prevail 


REL IGION     OF 

throughout  the  East.  Whoever  is  acquainted 
with  the  state  of  the  Christian  church  in  that  part 
of  the  world  when  Mohammedism  took  its  rise, 
cannot  be  surprised  at  its  speedy  and  complete 
triumph  over  all  those  lands  where  the  gospel 
once  prevailed  with  so  much  purity  and  power. 
Nor  will  he  be  surprised  at  the  present  condition 
of  the  churches  in  those  lands.  The  dreadful 
change  that  has  come  over  them  commenced  far 
back ;  commenced  in  declension,  in  a  loss  of 
spirituality,  in  substituting  the  form  for  the  power 
of  godliness  ;  and  now  the  spirit  of  life,  having 
for  centuries  departed  from  them,  they  lie  wrap- 
ped in  the  winding  sheet  of  dead  forms,  sending 
forth  only  exhalations  to  poison  and  impregnate 
with  death  the  whole  moral  atmosphere  around 
them.  It  is  indeed  a  profound  mystery  in  provi- 
dence, that  the  delusions  of  the  false  prophet,  and 
the  corruptions  of  a  dead  Christianity  should  have 
been  permitted  to  spread  their  baleful  influence 
over  those  fair  and  goodly  lands,  where  divine 
truth  once  shone  with  so  much  brightness,  and 
religion  prevailed  with  so  great  purity  and  power. 
But  however  unable  we  may  be  to  explain  the 
mystery  of  the  fact,  the  process  of  the  change  is 
perfectly  obvious, — declension,  loss  of  spirituality* 


THE     EAST.  139 

formalism,  death.  This  is  the  process  by  which 
the  churches  of  the  East  were  corrupted  and  de- 
stroyed. Let  us,  my  friends,  take  warning.  We 
stand  by  faith.  Let  us  not  be  high  minded,  but 
fear.  For  if  God  spared  not  the  churches  planted 
by  the  Apostles,  when  they  departed  from  him, 
but  gave  them  up  to  error  and  delusion,  let  us  be- 
ware lest  falling  into  the  same  sin,  he  spare  not 
us,  but  abandon  us  to  the  same  fearful  judgment. 
No  church  that  has  lost  its  spirituality  and  be- 
come cold  and  formal  in  worship,  has  the  least 
security  against  the  coming  in  of  error  and  delu- 
sion, worldliness  and  sin,  in  their  most  destructive 
form.  And  no  individual  Christian,  who  departs 
from  God,  ever  knows  where  he  shall  stop,  or 
when  he  shall  return.  Than  such  departure,  no 
sin  is  more  subtle,  none  more  dangerous,  whether 
in  respect  to  a  church  collectively,  or  its  individu- 
al members.  It  steals  the  heart  away  from  God, 
begets  coldness  in  his  worship  and  indifference  to 
his  glory ;  then  the  Spirit  is  grieved  away ;  all 
becomes  fruitless  and  dead ;  and  in  this  state,  the 
great  adversary  is  sure  to  be  present  to  do  his 
work ;  to  sow  the  seeds  of  error  and  sin,  and  lead 
souls  captive  at  his  will. 


140  RELIGION    OF 

Let  all  take  warning.  God  is  true  to  his  word. 
Mark  again  the  process  of  ruin  to  the  ancient 
churches  of  the  East, — declension,  loss  of  spiritu- 
ality, formalism,  death.  Hear  too  the  solemn 
and  monitory  language,  once  addressed  to  two  of 
these  churches,  by  the  faithful  and  true  Witness — 
I  have  somewhat  against  thee  because  thou  hast  left 
thy  first  love.  Repent  therefore  and  do  thy  first 
works  ;  else  lujill  come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will 
remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  its  place,  except  thou 
repent.  This  was  said  of  the  church  of  Ephesus. 
How  solemn  the  warning ;  how  awful  the  execu- 
tion of  the  threatening  !  The  light  of  Ephesus 
has  long  since  become  extinct.  Not  a  living 
being  now  resides  there  bearing  the  Christian 
name.  It  is  described  as  a  solemn  and  most  for- 
lorn spot.  A  passing  shepherd,  or  wandering 
Turkoman  occasionally  pitches  his  tent  for  a 
night  among  the  fallen  houses ;  else  all  is  dreary, 
waste,  and  silent  as  the  house  of  death,  except 
only  when  the  stillness  is  broken  by  the  mournful 
cry  of  the  jackal  echoed  from  the  mountain,  and 
the  night  hawk  and  shrill  owl  flitting  around  the 
ruins.  This  is  the  place  where  Paul,  and  John, 
and  Timothy  once  taught  and  prayed,  and  broke 


THE     EAST.  141 

the  bread  of  life  to  a  large  and  flourishing  church. 
The  sin  charged  upon  the  church  was  leaving 
first  love ;  and  refusing  to  repent  when  warned 
of  danger,  punishment  came  and  its  light  went 
out  in  darkness. 

To  another  church  it  was  said, — I  know  thy 
works,  that  thou  aft  neither  cold  nor  hot;  I 
would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot;  so  then  because 
thou  art  lukewarm  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I 
will  spue  thee  out  of  my  mouth.  This  too  has 
had  an  awful  fulfilment,  and  Laodicea,  a  misera- 
ble, deserted  ruin,  remains  now  only  to  attest 
how  great  and  how  dangerous  is  the  sin  of  luke- 
warmness,  and  how  sure  is  God  to  execute  his 
threatenings,  against  all  who  depart  from  him, 
and  refuse  to  hear  his  voice  calling  to  repentance. 
He  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches. 


13 


OBSTACLES 


TO    THE 


SPREAD  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST. 


OBSTACLES  TO  THE 
SPREAD  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST. 


When  a  strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  palace,  his  goods  are  in  peace  \ 
but  when  a  stronger  than  he  shall  come  upon  him,  and  overcome  hiui,  he 
taketh  from  him  all  his  armor  wherein  he  trusted,  and  divideth  hU  spoils. — 
LUKE  II  :  21,22. 

MY  object,  in  the  present  discourse,  is,  first,  to 
point  out  some  of  the  obstacles  to  the  propagation 
of  the  pure  gospel  in  the  Oriental  chuiches;  and, 
second,  to  consider  what  reasons  we  have  to  hope 
for  ultimate  success. 

Our  text  is  a  proper  introduction  to  this  subject. 
It  was  uttered  by  our  blessed  Lord  in  vindication 
of  himself  from  the  blasphemous  charge  of  acting 
in  concert  with  Satan,  the  arch  enemy  of  God  and 
man.  This  charge  was  brought  against  him  by 
his  enemies,  in  consequence  of  his  healing  a  de- 
moniac, which,  they  asserted,  he  effected  through 
Beelzebub,  the  chief  of  the  devils.  Our  Lord 
replies  by  showing  the  absurdity  of  supposing 
13* 


146  OBSTACLES    TO    THE    SPREAD 

that  Satan  would  act  against  himself,  or  exert  his 
power  for  the  destruction  of  his  own  kingdom. 
Every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought 
to  desolation ;  and  a  house  divided  against  a 
house  falleth.  If  Satan  also  be  divided  against 
himself,  how  shall  his  kingdom  stand  ?  because 
ye  say  that  I  cast  out  devils  through  Beelzebub. 
And  if  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom 
do  your  sons  cast  them  out  1  Therefore  shall 
they  be  your  judges.  But  if  I  with  the  finger  of 
God  cast  out  devils,  no  doubt  the  kingdom  of  God 
has  come  upon  you.  Then  follows  our  text. — 
When  a  strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  palace, 
his  goods  are  in  peace  ;  but  when  a  stronger  than 
he  shall  come  upon  him,  and  overcome  him,  he 
taketh  from  hirn  all  his  armor  wherein  he  trusted, 
and  divideth  his  spoils. 

Our  Saviour  here  distinctly  recognizes  the  ex- 
istence and  agency  of  a  mighty  spirit  of  evil, 
whose  power  was  terribly  exerted  to  blind  the 
minds  of  men,  and  hold  them  in  subjection  to  his 
will.  He  also  intimates  that  he  had  come  with 
power  mightier  than  his,  to  take  from  him  his 
armor,  his  strength,  set  his  captives  free  and 
destroy  his  kingdom.  Some,  I  am  aware,  affect 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  147 

to  sneer  at  satanic  agency,  as  a  fiction,  and  regard 
what  the  scriptures  say  of  the  devil,  and  fallen 
angels,  as  eastern  allegory.  But  aside  from  the 
full  and  explicit  declarations  of  the  Bible  in  con- 
tradiction of  such  a  notion,  it  seems  to  me,  I  must 
confess,  extremely  difficult  to  account  for  many 
of  the  complicated,  extended  and  deadly  systems 
of  evil  in  our  world,  without  admitting  an  agency, 
far  more  sagacious,  wide-reaching  and  powerful, 
than  man  can  exert. 

While  passing  through  the  different  countries 
I  visited  in  the  East,  scarcely  any  scripture  occur, 
red  to  my  mind  more  frequently  than  the  one 
selected  as  my  text.  I  saw  such  influences  at 
work  on  every  side  to  corrupt,  brutalize,  and 
destroy  the  souls  of  men  ;  systems  of  evil,  i  so 
methodized,  so  interlocked,  so  all-pervading,  and 
wielded  with  such  comprehension  of  plan  and 
such  dreadful  power,'  that  I  could  not  doubt,  for 
a  moment,  the  existence  and  agency  of  the  devil. 
I  felt  with  a  vividness  of  impression  never  before 
realized,  that  a  strong  man  armed  was  keeping 
his  palace,  and  holding  terrible  sway  over  the 
minds  of  men  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  that 
no  hope  of  deliverance  could  be  derived  from  any 


148  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

quarter,  but  from  the  coming  of  one,  mightier 
than  he  to  bind  him,  and  take  from  him  his 
usurped  possessions.  But  this  is  a  general  view. 
I  must  descend  to  particulars.  Among  the  obsta- 
cles then  which  oppose  the  propagation  of  pure 
Christianity  in  the  East,  I  mention, 

I.  The  union  of  church  and  state  ;  the  inter- 
mingling of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power.  The 
effect  of  this,  wherever  it  exists,  is  first  to  corrupt 
the  church,  and  then  to  prevent  reformation.  It 
was  an  evil  day  for  the  church,  when,  in  the 
reign  of  Constantine,  it  was  taken  under  his  royal 
patronage,  and,  in  a  sense,  became  united  with 
the  state.  What  it  gained  in  protection  from 
persecution,  and  in  outward  prosperity,  it  lost  and 
more  than  lost,  in  purity  of  doctrine,  and  spirit- 
uality of  character  and  power.  Popery  had  its 
birth  in  that  union;  and  continued  to  grow  and 
spread,  till  it  brought  on  the  dark  ages;  and  to 
the  present  day,  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  con- 
nection of  the  church  with  the  state  are  visible  in 
all  the  countries  of  Europe  and  of  the  East.  In 
Italy,  for  example, — and  the  same  is  true  in  all 
papal  countries — the  civil  power  stands  armed  to 
resist  every  attempt  to  reform  the  abuses  of  the 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  149 

church,  and  to  extend  to  the  people  the  blessings 
of  education  and  of  pure  religion.  Were  it  not 
for  this  power,  sustained  as  it  is  by  Austrian  inter, 
ference  and  Austrian  bayonets,  the  pope  could 
not  hold  his  place  a  month.  Italy  would  be  free 
and  accessible  to  light.  So  in  Greece,  the  union 
of  church  and  state  is  entire.  The  civil  power 
claims  the  right  of  supreme  control  in  all  matters 
of  religious  instruction  and  worship  ;  and  acting 
through  the  medium  of  a  corrupt  priesthood,  it 
raises  formidable  barriers  against  all  innovation 
or  change  in  the  established  religion  of  the  coun- 
try. Hence  a  few  years  since  a  law  was  passed, 
requiring  that  the  catechism  of  the  Greek  church 
should  be  taught  in  all  the  schools  of  the  king- 
dom. The  consequence  was,  that  our  mission- 
aries, feeling  that  they  could  not,  conscientiously, 
teach  that  catechism,  as  it  inculcated  the  worship 
of  the  virgin  Mary  and  various  other  errors,  were 
obliged  to  disband  numerous  flourishing  schools, 
then  under  their  direction,  and  send  back  the 
children  to  ignorance  and  delusion.  By  an  arti- 
cle introduced  into  the  new  constitution,  in  1844, 
and  finally  adopted  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
convention,  all  proselytism  from  the  Greek  church 


150  OBSTACLES   TO   THE   SPREAD 

is  strictly  prohibited  ;  meaning  by  proselytism, 
all  attempts,  whether  by  preaching,  the  circula- 
tion of  books,  or  other  means,  to  enlighten  the 
people  and  convert  them  from  their  errors  to  a 
purer  faith.  This  article,  it  was  hoped,  would 
not  be  carried  into  execution ;  and  as  yet  it  has 
not  been  ;  but  there  it  is,  an  established  principle 
in  the  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  and  can  at  any 
time  be  brought  to  bear  in  the  banishment  of 
every  protestant  missionary  and  teacher  from  the 
country. 

In  Turkey,  Mohammedism  is  the  established 
religion  of  the  empire.  The  Koran  is  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  civil,  political  and  religious  ; 
and  it  thus  arrays  the  whole  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical power  of  the  empire  in  opposition  to  the 
gospel.  Till  recently  no  Mohammedan  could 
think  of  changing  his  religion  but  with  the  certain 
prospect  of  being  put  to  death  ;  and  this  punish- 
ment for  the  crime  of  apostacy  has  hitherto  been 
inflicted  with  terrible  certainty. 

In  regard  to  the  native  Christian  sects  residing 
in  the  country,  they  are  allowed  to  retain  their 
faith  and  worship,  only  by  the  payment  of  a  lib- 
eral tribute  to  the  Sultan.  They  are  called,  in 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  151 

the  proper  language  of  the  country,  rayah,  which 
means  a  flock,  pastured  for  the  sake  of  the  fleece  ; 
and  most  cruelly  are  they  fleeced  by  their  Turk- 
ish oppressors.  They  are  not  permitted  to  build 
or  repair  any  place  of  public  worship  without  a 
firman  from  the  Sultan.  He  decides  too  what 
color  their  houses  shall  be  painted,  what  dress 
they  shall  wear,  and  what  price  shall  be  paid  for 
articles  of  food  in  the  market ;  and  whenever  pas- 
sion, caprice,  or  covetousness,  move  him  to  the 
deed,  he  has  only  to  say  the  word,  and  any  Chris- 
tian subject,  whom  he  has  marked  as  a  victim, 
is  liable  at  once  to  be  despatched,  and  his  prop- 
erty seized.  This  creates  great  insecurity  of  per- 
son and  estate.  The  people  know  not  what  to  ex- 
pect. There  is  no  uniformity  or  steadiness  in  the 
government  administered  over  them  ;  except  that 
they  are  always  exposed  to  oppression  and  wrong. 
This  gives  rise  to  frequent  revolts  and  revolutions 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  people  are 
continually  plotting  how  they  shall  evade  the 
unrighteous  exactions  imposed  upon  them,  and 
resist  the  power  of  the  pashas  and  governors  sent 
by  the  Sultan  to  ride  over  them.  You  will  easily 
see  that  a  state  of  things,  such  as  has  now  been 


152  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

described,  must  be  exceedingly  unfavorable  to 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel.  A  people  crushed 
down  by  the  hand  of  oppression,  living  in  fear 
and  in  total  uncertainty  as  to  what  is  before  them, 
can  with  great  difficulty  be  persuaded  to  listen 
to  the  messages  of  the  gospel,  so  as  to  embrace 
them  in  sincerity  and  truth. 

2.  The  power  of  the  priests  presents  another 
obstacle  to  the  propagation  of  pure  Christianity 
among  the  people  of  the  East.  It  is  difficult  for 
us,  in  this  country,  to  conceive  of  the  extent  of 
this  power.  It  seems  all-pervading ;  reaching  all 
the  relations  of  life,  and  sending  its  influence 
deep  into  the  soul.  The  people  grow  up  under 
it,  fear  it,  and  dare  not  resist  it.  The  patriarchs 
and  bishops,  both  of  the  Greek  and  Armenian 
churches,  are  clothed  with  civil,  as  well  as  eccle- 
siastical power.  They  have  their  courts,  and 
their  prisons,  and  their  instruments  of  punish- 
ment ;  this  is  especially  true  of  the  patriarchs  ; 
and  they  are  by  no  means  .backward  to  use 
their  power  to  restrain  and  punish  any  who 
may  transgress  the  laws  of  the  church,  or  dis- 
cover a  disposition  to  inquire  after  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  the  Bible.  I  cannot  express  to  you  the 


OP  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST.     153 

emotions  which  were  awakened  in  my  bosom, 
when,  on  arriving  at  Smyrna,  I  was  informed  that 
an  Armenian  priest  had  just  been  thrown  into 
the  patriarch's  prison,  at  Constantinople,  for 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  circulating  religious 
books  among  the  people.  He  was  afterwards 
liberated,  but  was  threatened  with  banishment, 
if  he  persevered  in  the  course  for  which  he  had 
been  imprisoned.  I  afterwards  became  acquaint- 
ed with  him,  and  formed  a  favorable  opinion  of 
his  character,  as  a  man  of  a  sound  mind,  and  of 
devoted  piety.  I  need  not  say  that  he  remained 
firm. 

The  priests  of  every  grade  in  the  Oriental 
churches,  as  did  the  priests  of  Diana,  at  Ephesus, 
feel  themselves  interested  to  keep  things  as  they 
are.  They  are  averse  to  all  change.  They  know 
that  their  influence  with  the  people  depends  on 
keeping  them  in  ignorance.  Hence  they  are 
opposed  to  schools,  and  to  the  circulation  of  the 
scriptures  and  other  books.  It  often  seemed  to 
me,  when  in  that  country,  that  one  of  the  great- 
est obstacles  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  there,  is 
the  opposition  which  is  made  to  it  by  a  worldly, 
corrupt,  and  degraded  priesthood.  They  stand 

14 


154  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

at  the  avenues  of  light,  and  throw  back,  as  far  as 
they  can,  every  ray  which  is  presented  for  the 
illumination  of  the  people.  And  so  great  is  the 
ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  people,  that  the 
priests  hold  almost  unlimited  sway  over  them. 
The  teiror  of  excommunication  is  almost  like  that 
of  perdition.  By  multitudes  the  priest  is  thought 
to  hold  in  his  hand  the  keys  of  life  and  of  death  ; 
and  as  his  services  are  deemed  essential  to  salva- 
tion, there  is  the  greatest  dread  of  incurring  his 
displeasure.  A  threat  from  him  to  withhold  abso- 
lution from  a  penitent,  or  baptism  from  a  child, 
or  his  priestly  service  in  the  burial  of  the  dead,  is 
terrible,  in  the  view  of  the  people  in  general,  be- 
yond what  you  can  imagine,  and  seldom  fails, 
unless  the  offender  be  a  true  Christian,  to  bring 
him  to  submission. 

Intimately  connected  with  this  is  the  dread  of 
separation  from  the  church  or  community  to 
which  the  people  belong.  For  a  Turk  to  do  this 
is  not  only  to  expose  himself  to  decapitation,  but 
to  certain  exclusion  from  the  paradise  of  the 
prophet,  and  consignment  to  the  fires  of  hell. 
This  he  is  taught  from  his  earliest  childhood,  and 
it  holds  him,  as  with  the  power  of  fate,  firm  to  his 
creed. 


OP  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST.      155 

The  same,  substantially,  is  true  of  those  who 
belong-  to  the  different  Christian  sects.  They 
naturally  dread  separation  as  the  greatest  of  evils. 
Hence,  when  any  one  shows  a  disposition  to 
adopt  a  different  creed,  or  unite  with  a  different 
denomination  from  that  in  which  he  was  brought 
up,  his  friends  and  relatives  are  alarmed,  as  if 
some  evil  spirit  had  seized  him  ;  and  if  he  finally 
separates  and  goes  away  from  them,  they  bemoan 
him  as  one  who  has  dishonored  them,  and  is  lost 
to  all  hope  of  salvation.  No  pains  are  spared, 
in  the  first  instance,  to  prevent  his  separation  ; 
and  when  he  has  separated,  no  pains  are  spared, 
whether  by  entreaties,  by  threats  or  persecutions, 
to  bring  him  back. 

I  have  many  affecting  facts  which  I  might  men- 
tion to  illustrate  what  I  here  say  ;  but  time  will 
not  permit.  You  have  all  heard  of  the  power  of 
caste  among  the  Hindoos  ;  how  it  divides  the 
people  into  distinct  classes,  or  sects,  and  raises  an 
impassable  barrier  between  them.  There  is  some- 
thing very  analagous  to  this  among  the  churches 
of  the  East.  To  lose  caste  in  one  of  these  church- 
es, is  to  lose  the  soul ;  to  separate  from  them  is 
to  separate  from  salvation.  This  is  the  common 
opinion ;  and  as  among  the  heathen,  so  among 


156  OBSTACLES   TO   THE    SPREAD 

the  Christians  of  the  East,  the  power  of  caste,  as 
I  call  it,  operates  with  terrible  effect  to  shut  out 
from  them  the  light  and  blessings  of  the  pure 
gospel. 

3.  Another  obstacle  to  the  propagation  of  the 
gospel  in  the  East,  is  found  in  the  broken,  frag- 
mentary state  of  society  that  exists  there.  You 
do  not  find  there,  as  you  do  in  our  country,  one 
homogeneous  people,  speaking  the  same  lan- 
guage, and  bound  together  by  the  ties  of  a  com- 
mon interest  and  country.  But  you  find  a 
strangely  mingled  people,  collected  from  all 
parts  of  the  earth,  speaking  different  languages, 
and  separated  from  each  other  by  extreme  jeal- 
ousy and  hostility.*  They  have  no  bond  of  social 
sympathy  drawing  them  into  a  oneness  of  char- 
acter, of  interest  and  aim,  and  qualifying  them  to 
cooperate  in  plans  for  mutual  improvement. 
They  are  divided  and  kept  asunder  by  innumer- 
able dissocial,  repellent  influences,  and  the  mis- 
sionary is  obliged  to  carry  on  his  wrork,  chiefly,  by 
acting  on  individuals.  He  cannot  hope  to  move, 
at  once,  by  a  common  effort,  the  mass  of  the 
people.  He  has  rather  to  take  a  particular  class, 

*  See  page  30. 


OP  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST.      157 

and  select  individuals  from  that  class,  and  pa- 
tiently instruct  them,  as  it  were,  one  by  one,  and 
in  this,  what  would  seem  to  us  slow  process,  build 
up  a  spiritual  kingdom,  in  the  midst  of  surround- 
ing jealousy,  formalism  and  deadness.  The  light 
thus  kindled  in  the  bosoms  of  individuals,  will 
gradually  permeate  the  masses  to  which  they 
belong;  and  it  may  be  hoped,  that  these  masses, 
as  the  Armenians  and  Druses,  for  example,  will 
in  the  end  be  moved  and  moulded  by  the  power 
of  the  gospel.  But  the  process,  in  such  a  state  of 
society,  insulated,  broken  up  into  fragments,  must 
be  slow  and  peculiarly  laborious. 

4.  The  people  are  exceedingly  degraded  in 
ignorance,  superstition  and  selfishness.  How  can 
it  be  otherwise  under  a  despotism  like  that  of 
Turkey,  which  seeks  only  to  oppress  and  grind 
the  people  in  the  dust  1  It  often  seemed  to  me, 
especially  while  traveling  in  Syria,  that  human 
nature,  as  I  saw  it  around  me,  had  reached  its 
lowest  point  of  degradation  and  misery.  I  was 
assured  however,  by  our  excellent  missionary, 
Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  who  was  my  fellow  traveler  in 
that  wretched  country,  that  the  Copts,  the  com- 
mon people  of  Egypt,  were  still  more  degraded 
14* 


158  OBSTACLES    TO    THE    SPREAD 

and  miserable,  as  were  great  numbers  whom  he 
had  seen  in  Armenia.  It  was  difficult  for  me  to 
see  how  this  was  possible,  and  society  continue  to 
exist.  Not  a  newspaper  published  in  all  Syria ; 
not  a  book-stere,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  except 
those  connected  with  our  missions,  and  very  few 
schools  of  any  kind  for  the  instruction  of  the 
young.  The  people,  living  in  constant  oppres- 
sion, and  fear  of  what  may  come  upon  them,  do 
not  think  of  improvement  or  look  beyond  their 
present  wants.  Hence  their  towns  and  villages 
are  rapidly  going  to  decay;  and  so  long  have 
they  been  compelled,  as  it  were,  to  save  their 
lives,  and  gain  a  subsistence  by  the  practice  of 
falsehood  and  fraud,  that  these  have  become  uni- 
versal habits,  and  are  scarcely  regarded  as  at  all 
improper  or  sinful.  Truth  is  utterly  fallen  in  the 
streets,  and  equity  cannot  enter.  The  idea  of 
disinterested  benevolence  seems  to  have  no  place 
in  the  minds  of  the  people.  Show  them  a  kind- 
ness, do  them  a  favor,  and  they  at  once  suspect 
some  selfish  motive.  Hence  the  common  impres- 
sion among  them  is,  that  our  missionaries  are 
there  on  some  enterprise  of  selfish  gain  ;  and 
when  they  are  asked  to  send  their  children  to  the 


OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST.      159 

schools,  opened  for  their  instruction,  they  fre- 
quently expect  a  reward  for  so  doing,  on  the 
ground  that  the  whole  is  a  money-getting  affair. 

It  seems  to  them  incredible,  that  people  in  this 
country,  moved  simply  by  a  desire  to  do  good, 
should  make  such  efforts  for  their  happiness;  or 
that  missionaries,  with  no  hope  of  gain,  should  be 
willing  to  leave  country  and  home,  and  come  and 
spend  their  lives  in  seeking  their  salvation.  And 
it  is  only  after  they  have  had  much  intercourse 
with  the  missionaries,  and  have  become  acquaint- 
ed with  their  plans  and  operations,  that  they 
admit  the  idea  of  their  disinterestedness.  It 
seems,  in  a  great  measure,  a  new  and  strange 
idea  to  them,  so  universally  are  they  accustomed 
to  see  men  act  only  from  selfishness.  I  need  not 
add,  that  this  idea,  when  once  admitted  to  their 
minds,  wins  powerfully  on  their  confidence,  and 
renders  them  easily  accessible  to  missionary 
influence. 

The  remarks  now  made  apply  particularly  to 
Syria.  In  Turkey,  the  people,  as  a  general  fact, 
are  less  degraded  ;  are  in  a  more  promising  social 
and  moral  state.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the 
Armenians,  who  are  by  far  the  most  hopeful  sub- 


160  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

jects  of  missionary  labor,  to  be  found  in  all  the 
East.  But  even  among-  them,  common  education 
is  very  little  known,  and  not  at  all  among  the 
females ;  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are 
sunk  very  low  in  ignorance  and  superstition,  in 
intellectual  and  moral  degradation,  so  that  much, 
very  much  prepaiatory  work  is  to  be  done  in  their 
behalf,  before  the  gospel  can  be  expected  to  pre- 
vail among  them  in  purity  and  power. 

5.  I  mention  one  other  obstacle  to  the  propa- 
gation of  the  gospel  in  the  East,  greater  in  some 
respects  than  any  I  have  yet  named;  it  is  the 
universal  reliance  of  the  people  upon  forms  and 
ceremonies  ;  their  strong  attachment  to  the  an- 
cient rites  and  observances  of  their  respective 
churches.  It  is  a  remarkable  characteristic  of 
superstition  and  formalism,  wherever  they  exist, 
to  bind  their  devotees  in  firm  attachment  to  their 
prescriptions.  This  is  true  of  every  system  of 
idolatry  and  false  religion  on  earth  ;  and  it  is  seen 
in  all  its  power  among  the  people  of  the  East. 
The  Turks  are  universally  high  churchmen  ;  that 
is,  they  are  extremely  bigoted  and  exclusive  in 
their  attachment  to  their  form  of  religion,  and 


OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  EAST.      161 

consign  to  certain  destruction  all  who  are  not  of 
the  faith  of  their  prophet.* 

The  several  sects  of  nominal  Christians,  are 
each  confident,  that  theirs  is  the  only  true  church, 
and  theirs  the  only  valid  ministry  and  ordinances ; 
and  salvation  is  no  where  certain  but  in  their 
communions  respectively.  The  foolish  idea  of 
Apostolical  succession  as  essential  to  a  duly  au- 

*  The  religion  of  Mohammedans  naturally  makes  them  proud, 
and  leads  them  to  despise  all  who  are  not  of  their  faith.  "  The 
prayers  of  the  infidel  (the  Christian)  are  net  prayers,  but  wan- 
derings," says  the  koran  "  I  withdraw  my  foot,  and  turn  away 
my  face,"  says  Mohammed,  "  from  a  society  in  which  the  faith- 
ful are  mixed  with  the  ungodly."  The  spirit  breathed  in  this 
language  is  not  extinguished,  nor  even  weakened,  by  the  death 
of  its  object.  "  Pray  not  for  those  whose  death  is  eternal,"  is 
a  precept  of  the  Mohammedan  church  ;  and  "  defile  not  thy 
feet  by  passing  over  the  graves  of  men,  the  enemies  of  God  and 
his  prophet."  These  precepts  are  precise  and  positive;  and 
they  regulate  the  principles  and  conduct  of  all  classes  of  Mus- 
sulmans. They  are  seldom  troubled  with  terrors  of  conscience. 
Their  firm  belief  is  that  all  Mohammedans  are  safe  ;  that  the 
divine  favor  is  never  withdrawn  from  those  who  are  steadfast  in 
their  profession  of  faith,  and  constant  in  their  practice  of  relig- 
ious rites.  The  belief  and  the  performance  of  both  are  simple 
and  easy,  and  not  only  may  exist  unconnected  with  virtue,  but 
may  seem  to  expiate  vicious  conduct,  and  so  keep  the  conscience 
quiet  in  the  midst  of  great  moral  delinquencies. — See  Thornton 
on  Turkey,  vol.  2.  p.  107-117. 


162  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 


thorized  ministry,  is  common  in  all  the  Oriental 
churches  ;  and  the  people  are  taught  from  their 
childhood  up,  that  if  they  observe  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  their  church,  their  salvation  is  cer- 
tain. Tradition  has  taken  the  place  of  the  Bible  ; 
the  dogmas  of  men  are  received  for  the  teachings 
of  God's  word.*  Regeneration  is  effected  by 
baptism  ;  justification  is  by  the  observance  of  cer- 
emonies; repentance  is  penance,  or  doing  what 
the  priest  enjoins  as  an  offset  for  sin  ;  faith  is 
believing  what  the  church  teaches  ;  and  while 
the  highest  idea  entertained  of  holiness  is  in 
the  tithing  of  mint,  annis  and  cummin,  or  in  ob- 
serving prescribed  rites  and  forms,  no  sin  is 
thought  so  deadly,  as  to  renounce  connection 
with  the  church,  and  embrace  the  heresy  of  prot- 
estantism ;  that  is,  the  pure,  spiritual  religion  of 
the  Bible,  in  opposition  to  the  doctrines  of  tradi- 
tion and  rites  of  human  invention. 

That  a  people  trained  under  the  influence  of 
such  a  system,  with  no  means  of  general  educa- 
tion, and  no  Bible  in  their  hands  to  enlighten  and 
guide  them,  should  cherish  strong  prejudices,  and 
look  with  distrust  upon  all  attempts  to  convert 

*  See  page  23. 


OP    THE    GOSPEL    IN    THE    EAST.  163 

them  to  a  purer  faith,  is  only  what  might  be  nat- 
urally expected  ;  and  it  is  what  in  fact  jp  wit- 
nessed all  over  the  eastern  world.  There  the 
strong  man  armed  keeps  his  palace,  and  his  goods 
are  in  peace.  The  powers  of  darkness  have  for 
centuries  established  their  sway  over  the  minds 
of  men  in  that  partof  the  world,  and  bound  them 
down  in  chains  of  extreme  ignorance,  superstition 
and  debasement. 

I  have  dwelt  too  long  on  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject. And  yet  I  feel  (hat  I  have  given  you  but  a 
very  imperfect  view  of  the  obstacles  which  oppose 
the  progress  of  the  gospel  in  the  countries  whose 
moral  and  intellectual  stale  has  been  under  review. 
Let  us  now  inquire, 

II.  What  encouragement  there  is  to  attempt  to 
send  the  gospel  to  the  people  in  those  countries. 

1.  It  is  an  obvious  remark,  that  the  power  of 
God  is  equal  to  the  overthrow  of  the  obstacles 
that  have  been  named,  and  to  open  a  free  course 
for  his  gospel  to  run  and  be  glorified.  We  preach, 
and  you  profess  to  believe  the  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Spirit's  influence,  as  indispensable  to  the 
conversion  of  the  human  heart.  This  sentiment 
is  often  held  here  as  mere  theory ;  but  the  chris- 


164  OBSTACLES    TO    THE    SPREAD 

tian  feels  it,  in  the  countries  of  the  East,  to  be  a 
soleimi  reality. 

As  I  passed  through  those  countries,  I  was  often 
filled  with  amazement,  at  the  wide -spread  and 
dreadful  moral  desolations  which  I  every  where 
witnessed.  I  could  not  doubt,  as  I  have  said,  the 
agency  of  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  man,  as 
employed  in  producing  these  desolations.  I  fre- 
quently seemed  to  myself  to  be  in  the  situation  of 
the  prophet,  when  in  vision  he  was  set  down  in 
the  midst  of  a  vast  valley  full  of  bones,  which 
were  dry,  very  dry.  When  the  question  occurred, 
can  these  bones  live,  I  could  only  answer,  in  the 
prophet's  language,  Lord  God,  thou  knowest.  I 
saw  distinctly,  that  all  human  power  is  utterly 
inadequate  to  accomplish  the  desired  change. 
But  what  the  power  of  man  cannot  do,  the  power 
of  God  can  do,  and  it  will ;  for  so  the  divine 
promises  encourage  us  to  believe.  Those  lands, 
once  pressed  by  the  footsteps  of  prophets  and 
apostles,  and  of  the  Saviour  himself,  though  now 
shrouded  in  deep  moral  darkness,  and  given  up 
to  the  dominion  of  Satan,  are  surely  included 
in  the  covenant,  which  promises,  that  Christ  shall 
have  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance,  and  the 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  165 

uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession. 
One  stronger  than  the  strong  man  armed  is  on  his 
way  to  the  conquest  of  the  world,  and  ere  long 
we  may  rest  assured,  he  will  come  upon  him  and 
overcome  him  ;  take  from  him  his  armor  wherein 
he  trusted,  and  divide  his  spoils. 

2.  The  gospel  has  broken  down  just  such  ob- 
stacles as  now  exist  in  the  East,  and  cleared  a  way 
for  its  successful  triumph.  In  primitive  times  it 
spread  its  conquests  over  these  very  lands,  then 
under  the  dominion  of  idolatry,  and  of  a  corrupt 
Judaism,  as  difficult,  surely,  to  eradicate,  as  any 
of  the  forms  of  false  religion  which  now  prevail 
there.  And  though  a  mysterions  providence  has 
permitted  that  the  light,  which  once  shone  so 
bright  there,  should  be  obscured  and  in  a  great 
measure  extinguished  by  the  overflowings  of  error 
and  delusion ;  still  in  what  the  gospel  once  did 
on  that  theatre  of  its  early  triumphs,  we  have  a 
pledge  of  what  it  can  and  will  do  again,  when  it 
shall  be  sent  forth  to  the  people,  in  purity  and 
power,  with  the  attending  influence  of  God's 
spirit.  That  gospel,  which  in  the  space  of  three 
hundred  years,  banished  idolatry  from  the  vast 
empire  of  Rome  ;  that  gospel,  which  converted 
15 


166  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

our  wild  Saxon  ancestors  from  their  bloody  druid- 
ical  worship,  to  the  love  and  service  of  the  true 
God  ;  that  gospel,  which  smote  the  arm  of  popery 
at  the  Reformation,  and  delivered  so  many  of  the 
nations  of  Europe  from  its  thraldom ;  which  has 
wrought  such  wonders  in  our  day  in  Greenland, 
at  the  Society  and  Sandwich  Islands,  and  in  many 
parts  of  Southern  Africa  and  India, — that  gospel 
is  surely  invested  with  a  power,  which  needs  only 
to  be  rightly  wielded,  to  spread  its  victories  over 
all  the  Turkish  empire,  banish  the  delusions  of 
the  false  prophet,  and  the  various  forms  of  cor- 
rupt Christianity  now  prevailing  there,  and  every 
where  set  up  its  banner  of  light  and  love,  of 
peace,  and  joy,  and  salvation. 

All  that  is  necessary  to  the  achievement  of  this 
grand  conquest,  is  only  to  give  the  gospel  an 
open  field  of  combat ;  is  to  bring  it  into  direct 
contact  with  the  various  existing  systems  of  error 
and  sin.  Let  this  be  done,  and  the  obstacles  I 
have  enumerated  will  melt  away,  as  night  flees 
before  the  rising  sun,  and  divine  light  will  again 
spread  over  all  the  lands  so  long  enveloped  in  the 
darkness  and  shadow  of  death. 


OP  THE   GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  167 

3.  A  very  happy  beginning  has  already  been 
made  in  the  great  work  of  reviving  pure  religion 
in  the  lands  that  have  been  under  review.  But 
little,  it  is  true,  has,  as  yet,  been  done  in  behalf  of 
the  Mohammedans.  Their  bigotry,  together 
with  the  fear  of  the  cimiter,  has  hitherto  shut 
them  out  from  Christian  effort.  The  scriptures 
have  been  translated  into  their  language,  and  to 
some  extent,  circulated  among  them.  But  suc- 
cess has  been  small.  Indeed  it  has  seemed  utterly 
in  vain,  in  the  view  of  those  who  have  been  long- 
est on  the  ground,  to  attempt  the  conversion  of 
Moslems,  while  they  have  before  them  such  mis- 
erable examples  of  religious  character,  as  are 
exhibited  by  native  Christians  around  them.  The 
ungodly  lives,  the  bad  morals,  and  the  degrading 
superstitions  of  these  Christians,  fully  convinced 
me,  that  they  must  be  reformed,  before  any  thing 
can  be  successfully  done  to  make  Mohammedans 
think  well  of  ths  gospel,  or  engage  them  to  give 
their  attention  to  it.  All  they  now  see  is  only 
adapted  to  make  them  despise  it. 

In  regard  to  the  Greeks,  though  the  success  of 
efforts  made  in  their  behalf  has  been  less  than  was 
reasonably  anticipated,  and  though  missionaries 


168  OBSTACLES   TO   THE    SPREAD 

have  felt  themselves  obliged,  for  the  present,  to 
withdraw,  in  a  great  measure,  from  this  field,  still 
it  would  be  wrong  to  conclude  that  no  good  has 
been  done.  The  whole  Greek  nation  is  in  a  very 
diffeient  state  from  what  it  would  have  been  in, 
had  no  missionaries  been  sent  to  them.  General 
education  has  received  a  very  happy  impulse  ; 
many  have  been  instructed  in  useful  learning  and 
the  Bible  ;  some  have  been  converted,  and  numer- 
ous copies  of  the  scriptures  and  other  religious 
books  have  been  widely  scattered  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  these  means  of  divine  knowledge  and 
salvation  will  not,  we  may  rest  assured,  be  lost, 
but  will  exert  an  important  influence  in  the  future 
regeneration  of  Greece. 

Then  with  respect  to  the  Armenians,  the  Nes- 
torians,  the  Druses  on  Mount  Lebanon,  and  the 
Arabs  of  Syria,  our  missionaries  are  pursuing  their 
work  among  them  with  very  encouraging  tokens 
of  success.  Since  they  first  entered  the  country, 
some  fifteen  years  ago,  a  great  and  most  happy 
change  has  taken  place  in  their  condition  and 
prospects.  Then  every  thing  was  new  and  strange 
to  them;  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  man- 
ners and  habits  of  the  people,  and  with  their  Ian- 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE   EAST.  169 

guage,  laws  and  religion.  Now  they  know  the 
ground  they  occupy,  understand  the  character  of 
the  people,  and  can  speak  to  them,  in  their  own 
tongue,  of  the  wonderful  works  of  God.  Then 
they  had  no  Bible  in  the  language  of  the  people, 
and  no  books  for  their  instruction,  and  no  print- 
ing press.  Now  they  have  Bibles  and  books  in 
abundance, and  the  means  of  multiplying,  through 
the  press,  copies  of  both,  to  any  extent  they 
please.  Then  they  had  no  schools  and  no  sem- 
inaries of  learning,  in  which  to  instruct  the  young 
and  train  them  up  for  usefulness  and  God.  Now 
they  have  numerous  schools,  and  hundreds  of 
children  and  youth,  in  a  course  of  Christian 
instruction,  and  two  higher  seminaries  in  which 
to  fit  young  men  to  become  teachers  and  minis- 
ters. Then  they  were  universally  regarded  with 
jealousy  and  distrust,  and  found  itdifficult  to  gain 
access  to  the  people.  Now  they  have  the  entire 
confidence  of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances  and 
friends,  and  free  access  to  as  many  individuals 
and  families  as  they  can  find  time  and  strength 
to  visit  and  instruct  in  the  knowledge  of  salvation. 
Then  they  had  no  converts,  whom  they  could 
draw  around  them  in  fellowship  and  communion, 
and  employ  as  helpers  in  their  great  and  arduous 
15* 


170  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

work.  Now  they  have  many  who  give  pleasing 
evidence  of  piety,  to  whom  they  break  the  bread 
of  life,  and  who,  in  various  ways,  are  found  very 
useful  in  promoting  the  cause  of  salvation  among 
their  countrymen.  Then  they  were  frequently 
exposed  to  vexatious  interruptions  from  priests 
and  men  in  power ;  and  to  persecutions  and  vio- 
lence in  their  persons  and  families.  Now  all 
these  things  have,  in  a  great  measure,  passed 
away,  and  as  a  general  fact,  they  are  allowed  to 
pursue  their  work,  having  none  to  molest  or  make 
them  afraid. 

In  a  village  on  Mount  Lebanon,  where  a  few 
years  since  Mr.  Smith,  our  missionary,  was  hooted 
and  stoned  as  he  passed  along  the  streets,  I  with 
my  fellow  traveler  slept,  and  visited  many  of  the 
villagers  in  their  houses,  with  no  more  feeling  of 
insecurity  than  in  my  own  habitalion.  The 
changes  here  indicated  are  very  great.  The 
missionaries,  who  have  seen  and  marked  them  in 
their  progress,  often  spoke  of  them  with  wonder 
and  gratitude  ;  and  all  of  us  should  gather  from 
them  strong  encouragement,  in  regard  to  the  ulti- 
mate success  of  our  efforts  to  revive  religion  in 
the  East.  The  numerous  little  fires,  that  are  now 


OF   THE    GOSPEL    IN   THE    EAST.  171 

being  kindled  in  different  and  far  distant  parts  of 
the  country,  will  continue  to  brighten  and  spread, 
till  light  shall  penetrate  all  the  dark  places  in  the 
land,  and  the  people  shall  move  in  masses  to 
renounce  their  superstitions,  and  embrace  the 
pure  gospel. 

4.  There  are  many  other  causes,  besides  those 
directly  connected  with  Christian  missions,  which 
are  operating   to  change  the  whole  moral  and 
religious,  and  I  might  add,  the  whole  civil  and 
political  aspect  of  the  East.     To  form  a  just  esti- 
mate of  the  nature  and  power  of  these  causes, 
one  needs  to  contemplate  them  on  the  ground. 
Turkey,  the  grand  seat  and  center  of  Mohamme- 
dan power,  seems  doomed  ere  long  to  dismember- 
ment.    Indeed  this  dismemberment  has  already 
commenced  in  the  loss  of  many  of  its  provinces, 
and  in  the  continual  decay  of  the  power  by  which 
it  retains  its  dominion  over  others.     The  power 
of  Turkey  is  every  where  declining ;  and  she  can 
never  regain  what  she  has  lost.     The  Turks  can- 
not change.      Their  religion  and  government, 
their  social  and  domestic  habits,  their  ignorance, 
their  superstition,  their  bigotry,  indeed  the  whole 
frame  and  order  of  society  among  them,  have 
• 


172  OBSTACLES   TO   THE    SPREAD 

been  stereotyped  now  tHese  four  hundred  years. 
Their  civilization,  if  so   you  must  call  it,  has 
scarcely  advanced  at   all   beyond  what  it  was 
when  they  entered  Constantinople,  four  centuries 
ago  ;  and  they  are  just  so  far  back  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age.      The  consequence  is,  they  are  in  no 
respect  able  to  compete  with  modern  civilization, 
or  withstand  those  influences,  which  are  contin- 
ually crowding  upon  them  from  all  the  nations  of 
Christendom,  and  which,  irresistibly,  operate  to 
supplant  them  in  their  power,  in  their  business, 
and  in  the  possession  of  their  country  and  their 
homes.     It  is  an  ancient  tradition  with  them,  that 
they  are  one   day  to  be  driven  out  of  Euiope. 
Nothing  seems  more  probable. 

In  the  mean  time,  light  from  every  quarter  is 
bursting  upon  Turkey.  Every  steamboat  that 
visits  her  ports  conveys  it :  every  traveler  spreads 
it.  The  civilization  of  the  West  can  no  longer 
be  shut  out  from  the  East  by  Turkish  bigotry  and 
fanaticism.  Its  influence  is  felt,  and  will  be  felt, 
more  and  more,  in  breaking  up  barbarous  cus- 
toms, in  restraining  the  hand  of  violence  and  per- 
secution, and  in  making  the  people  acquainted 
with  the  blessings  of  knowledge,  of  liberty  and 
religion.  And  whatever  may  be  th^  fate  of  the 


OF   THE    GOSPEL    IN    THE    EAST.  173 

Turks  as  a  nation,  or  however  they  may  resist 
the  process  of  change,  that  is  going  on  among 
them;  one  thing  is  certain  to  result  from  that 
change,  and  that  is,  free  access  to  all  the  different 
sects  of  native  Christians  in  the  empire,  with  full 
liberty  to  publish  to  them  the  pure  gospel  of 
Christ.  Every  year  is  increasing  the  facilities  of 
intercourse  with  the  East,  and  multiplying  the 
means  by  which  we  may  establish  there  the  spir- 
itual kingdom  of  Chiist.  And  whoever  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  state  of  things  in  that  part  of 
the  world,  or  observes  the  pointings  of  prophecy 
and  of  providence  in  respect  to  it,  cannot  doubt, 
that  it  is  ere  long  to  be  the  seat  of  great  and  won- 
derful changes ;  changes  affecting  the  whole 
frame  and  aspect  of  society,  and  which  will  result 
in  casting  down  tyranny,  oppression,  and  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  false  religion,  and  establishing  the 
reign  of  freedom,  righteousness,  peace  and  salva- 
tion. This  glorious  consummation  may  not  be 
in  our  day  ;  but  it  is  hastening  on  ;  it  will  come  ; 
and  if  we  may  but  advance  it,  even  in  the  small- 
est degree,  by  any  efforts  and  prayers  of  ours,  let 
not  those  efforts  and  prayers  be  withheld.  It  will 
be  pleasant,  when  the  battle  is  fought  and  the 


174  OBSTACLES    TO   THE    SPREAD 

victory  is  won,  to  reflect,  even  though  we  may 
be  in  heaven,  that  we  contributed  any  thing  by 
our  agency,  towards  so  great  and  so  blessed  an 
achievement. 

In  the  meantime,  let  us  not  forget  our  beloved 
missionary  brethren,  who  are  now  laboring  in 
that  land  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death, 
to  build  up  there  the  kingdom  of  our  Saviour. 
They  are  true  hearted,  faithful,  Christian  men  ; 
willing  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  the  service  of 
their  Master,  and  for  the  salvation  of  perishing 
men  around  them.  They  are  pursuing  their 
work  in  the  only  way,  I  believe,  in  which  it  can 
be  accomplished  ;  not  as  sectarians,  but  as  the 
servants  of  Christ ;  not  to  build  up  a  party,  but 
to  advance  the  cause  of  pure  religion;  to  convert 
souls  to  the  Saviour,  and  train  them  up  for  heaven. 
They  believe,  what  I  know  to  be  true,  that  the 
churches  of  the  East  are  radically  corrupt ;  rotten 
to  the  very  core ;  and  though  proud  in  their  apos- 
tolically  descended  priesthood,  and  in  their  gor- 
geous forms  and  ceremonies,  are  utterly  dead,  as 
to  all  spiritual  life  and  power.  This  being  so, 
our  missionaries  feel,  that  they  cannot  fall  in  with 
their  rites,  nor  encourage  their  forms,  nor  hope 


OP   THE    GOSPEL    IN    THE    EAST.  175 

to  produce  a  reformation  from  within.  They 
believe,  that  a  true,  spiritual  reformation  must 
begin  from  without ;  must  begin  as  did  the  reform- 
ation in  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  and  in  the  times 
of  Luther  ;  begin  in  preaching  the  pure  gospel, 
in  bringing  sinners  to  repentance,  and  then  form- 
ing them  into  churches,  which  shall  be  spiritual 
bodies,  animated  with  the  faith  and  love  of  Christ 
as  their  head.  This  is  the  way  in  which  our 
brethren  in  the  East  are  striving  to  accomplish 
the  great  work  for  which  they  have  been  sent 
there.  It  is,  I  must  think,  the  right  way;  it 
approves  itself,  I  doubt  not,  to  your  Christian  judg- 
ment, as  it  does,  we  know,  by  many  manifest 
tokens  of  success,  to  the  approbation  and  favor  of 
the  God  of  Missions. 

Let  me  then,  in  behalf  of  our  brethren  in  the 
East,  invoke  your  prayers  for  them,  and  your 
confidence  and  love  towards  them.  They  are 
doing  a  great  work.  Their  discouragements  and 
trials  are  many,  and  it  will  greatly  lighten  their 
toils,  and  cheer  their  hearts,  to  know  that  they 
and  their  work  are  remembered  in  the  prayers  of 
Christians  in  America. 


RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS  OF  PALESTINE 
AND  JERUSALEM. 


16 


RELIGIOUS  IMPRESSIONS  OF  PALESTINE  AND 

JERUSALEM. 


For  the  Lord  thy  God  biingeth  tliee  into  a  good  land  ;  a  land  of  brooks  of 
water,  of  fountains,  and  depths  thai  spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills;  aland 
of  wheat,  and  barley, and  vines,  and  fij-trees,  and  pomegranates  ;  a  land'of 
oil-olive,  and  honey  ;  a  land  where.n  thou  shall  eat  bread  without  scarce- 
ness, thou  shall  not  lack  any  thing  in  it ;  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron,  and 
out  of  whose  hills  thou  m  lyesl  dig  bra-ss.— DKUTKRONIIMY  8  :  7,  8,  9. 

Hal  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  wilt  not  hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  thy  God,  to  observe  to  do  all  his  commandments  and  his  statutes  which 
1  command  thee  this  day, — that  the  Lord  shall  send  upon  thee  cursing,  vex- 
ation and  rebuke,  in  all  that  thou  srttest  thy  hand  unto  for  to  do,  until  thou 
be  destroyed,  and  until  thou  perish  quickly  ;  because  of  the  wickedness  of 
thy  doings  whereby  thou  hast  forsaken  me. — Andtiiy  heaven  that  is  over  thy 
head  shall  be  brass,  and  the  eanh  that  is  under  thee  shall  be  iron.  The 
Lord  shall  make  the  rain  of  thy  land  powder  and  dust  ;  from  tu-aven  shall  it 
coine  down  upon  thee,  until  thou  be  destroyed. — UKUTKRO.NOMY  28 :  15. — 
20:  21,24. 

And  whpn  he  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  if,  saying, 
if  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou.  at  least  in  this  thy  day  the  things  which  be- 
long unlo  thy  peace  !  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes.  For  ihe  days 
shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and 
compass  Ihee  round  and  keep  thee  in  on  every  side  ;  and  shall  lay  thee  even 
with  the  ground,  and  ihy  children  within  thee*,  and  they  shall  not  leave  in 
thee  one  stone  upon  another,  ber:uise  thou  knewest  not  the  time  of  thy 
visitation.— LUKK  19:  41,  42,  43,  44.  * 

THESE  Sciipiures,  taken  together,  present  a 
most  graphic  picture  of  the  land  of  Palestine,  as  it 
once  was  under  the  smiles  of  a  beneficent  provi- 
dence, and  in  the  possession  of  an  obedient  peo- 


180  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

pie;  and  of  what  that  same  land  now  is,  under 
the  frowns  of  a  righteous  God,  executing  judg- 
ments upon  a  disobedient  and  rebellious  people. 
The  truth  of  this  remark  will  fully  appear  in  the 
sequel  of  this  discourse. 

It  has  often  been  observed,  that  the  remem- 
brances of  travel  are  wont  to  be  more  interesting 
and  pleasant  than  the  reality.  1  find  this  to  be 
true  in  my  own  case.  The  passing  days  of  the 
last  few  weeks*  found  me,  a  year  ago,  traveling 
in  Syria  and  Palestine,  visiting  Jerusalem  and  the 
sacred  places  in  and  around  the  city.  These 
days,  as  they  have  recurred,  have,  each  in  suc- 
cession, carried  me  back  to  the  scenes  I  then 
passed  through  ;  and  the  impressions  made  on  my 
mind  by  those  scenes  have  been  revived  with  a 
vividness  I  had  never  anticipated.  My  whole 
journey  from  Beirut  to  Sidon  and  Tyre,  along  the 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  thence  across  the 
southern  slope  of  .mount  Lebanon  to  Safet  and 
the  sea  of  Tiberias,  and  on  through  Galilee  and 
Samaria  to  Jerusalem,  I  have  traveled  over  again, 
and  with  emotions  even  more  intense  than  I  felt, 
amid  the  toils  of  journeying  and  the  constant 

*  Delivered  Sabbath  Evening,  May  4th. 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.      181 

succession  of  new  objects  of  interest.  Hills  and 
valleys,  mountains  and  plains,  deep  ravines  and 
narrow  precipitous  path-ways,  the  wild  look  of 
the  inhabitants,  shepherds  tending  their  flocks, 
Bedouins  encamped  under  their  long  black  tents, 
watching  their  flocks  or  sweeping  over  the  fields 
on  their  fleet  coursers,  together  with  the  nameless 
and  countless  incidents  of  every  day's  travel 
through  so  strange  a  land,  and  among  so  strange 
a  people — all,  all  has  risen  afresh  to  my  mind, 
as  the  days  have  returned  on  which  I  performed 
the  journey;  and,  while  I  was  thus  mentally  re- 
tracing my  steps,  and  living  over  the  past,  the 
thought  occurred,  that  it  might  be  pleasant  and 
useful  to  communicate  to  my  friends  some  of  the 
impressions  made  on  my  mind  by  the  presence  of 
localities  and  objects,  so  deeply  interesting  as 
those  to  which  I  have  referred. 

Interesting  they  certainly  are  in  a  very  eminent 
degree.  No  spot  on  earth  is  historically  associa- 
ted with  such  stupendous  events  as  Palestine. 
Though  small  in  territory,  and  connected  with  no 
commanding  sea-port  mart,  or  inland  navigation, 
it  has  been  the  center  of  influences  more  deeply 
affecting  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  hu- 
16* 


182 


RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 


man  race,  than  any  that  have  originated  in  the 
greatest  and  most  powerful  nations  of  the  earth. 
There ,  nearly  two  thousand  years  before  the  com- 
ing of  Christ,  God  in  covenant  with  Abraham, 
fixed  the  future  heritage  of  his  chosen  people. 
There  he  established  them,  after  having  conduct- 
ed them  from  Egypt  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  and 
cast  out  the  heathen  to  prepare  a  place  for  them. 
There,  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  he  reigned  over 
them  as  their  God  and  King  ;  and  under  his  wise 
and  paternal  theocracy,  they  became  a  great,  a 
happy  and  a  powerful  people.  He  protected 
them  by  the  arm  of  his  special  providencej  while 
they  were  obedient  to  his  laws ;  and  punished 
them  with  severe  judgments,  when  they  depart- 
ed from  him.  There  patriarchs,  prophets  and 
apostles  were  inspired  to  make  known  the  char- 
acter and  ways  of  the  Eternal  to  the  children  of 
men  ;  there  they  lived  and  labored  and  died  ;  and 
there,  in  that  land  of  promise,  rest  their  mortal 
remains  till  the  great  resurrection-day.  There 
the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  born  ;  in  that  land 
he  traveled  and  taught  and  wrought  miracles,  and 
there,  without  the  gates  of  the  Holy  City,  he  suf- 
fered and  died,  and  from  the  mount  of  Olives,  in 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.      183 

its  immediate  vicinity,  he  ascended  to  glory. 
Wherever  you  travel  in  Palestine,  or  on  whatever 
side  you  turn  your  eyes,  you  continually  meet 
with  objects  and  scenes  of  the  deepest  interest,  on 
account  of  their  historical  associations;  and  though 
the  land  is  now  barren  and  waste  as  under  the 
curse  of  God,  still  you  cannot  but  feel,  that  there 
he  once  dwelt  by  his  special  presence  ;  there  was 
published  the  revelation  on  which  we  rest  our 
immortal  hopes  ;  there  were  first  proclaimed  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation,  and  from  thence  went 
forth  the  glorious  truth  which  is  finally  to  enlight- 
en and  bless  all  mankind,  and  to  which,  even 
now,  the  greatest  nations  upon  earth  trace  their 
civilization,  their  freedom,  their  knowledge  and 
happiness. 

* 

These  circumstances  will  always  make  Pales- 
tine a  centre-point  of  deep  and  instructive  inter- 
est, and  that,  whether  to  the  philosopher,  the 
statesman  or  the  Christian. 

For  myself,  I  must  say,  that  I  feel  deeply  grate- 
ful to  God,  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  make 
even  a  short  sojourn  in  that  land  ;  and  though  the 
recollection  of  the  past,  especially  as  connected 
with  one  painful  event,  brings  over  my  spirit  a 


184  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

feeling  of  sadness,  "as  of  a  bright  vision  that  has 
passed  away  forever,"  I  love  to  cherish  in  my 
memory  the  sacred  impressions  deposited  there 
by  my  visit,  and  they  will,  I  trust,  be  useful  to 
me  while  I  live  and  forever. 

1.  In  order  to  impart  to  you  some  of  these  im- 
pressions, 1  will  speak,  first,  of  the  great  and 
painful  contrast,  which  the  traveler  every  where 
observes,  between  what  Palestine  once  was,  and 
what  it  now  is.  It  is  represented  in  the  Scrip- 
tures,— running  back  to  an  early  period  in  its 
history, — as  a  good  land,  a  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  the  glory  of  all  lands.  And 
from  various  other  similar  expressions  in  the 
Bible,  it  is  evident,  that  the  holy  land,  as  it  is 
called,  was  once  greatly  distinguished  by  its  fer- 
tility, and  by  the  variety  and  abundance  of  its 
productions. 

But  the  Scriptures  are  not  alone  in  testifying 
to  this  fact.  In  passing  through  the  land,  the 
traveler  is  every  where  met  with  evidence  the 
most  convincing,  that  it  was  once  filled  with  a 
vast  population,  and  afforded,  in  abundance,  the 
means  of  subsistence  and  of  happiness.  He  sees 
this  evidence  in  the  thickly  scattered  towns  and 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.      185 

villages  now  in  ruins ;  in  the  extensive  and 
crowded  burying  grounds,  near  to  which  no  hu- 
man being  now  resides ;  in  the  fallen  terraces  that 
once  lined  the  sides  of  the  hills  and  mountains  to 
their  very  tops,  and  in  the  rich  plains  and  valleys 
which,  uncultivated,  still  pour  forth  their  natural 
products  in  wild,  luxurious  profusion.  In  travel- 
ing from  Beirut  to  Sidon  and  Tyre,  I  observed, 
most  of  the  way,  an  old  Roman  road,  now  in 
ruins,  but  every  where  showing,  by  the  deep 
ruts  worn  into  the  massive  pavements,  that  it  had 
for  centuries  been  a  great  thoroughfare,  leading 
through  a  rich  and  thickly  peopled  country. 
Sites  of  ruined  towns  were  numerous ;  and  I  often 
noticed,  as  I  passed  along,  fallen  columns,  broken 
arches,  crumbling  aqueducts,  with  here  and  there 
a  broad  court  paved  with  Mosaic,  all  indicating 
wealth  and  luxury,  and  greatness  now  no  more. 
The  fine  plain  of  ancient  Phenicia,  stretching  to 
the  north  of  Sidon  and  running  on  beyond  Tyre, 
must  once  have  been  covered  with  a  dense  popu- 
lation ;  it  is  now  like  a  garden  for  fertility,  though 
but  little  cultivated,  and  for  the  most  part  is  left 
to  run  to  waste.  The  cities  just  named,  embo- 
somed in  these  rich  coasts,  were  once  the  most 


186  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

magnificent  and  powerful  in  the  world  ;  their 
merchants  were  princes,  and  their  traffickers  the 
honorable  of  the  earth.  They  are  now  poor, 
miserable,  dilapidated  towns,  and  seemed  scarcely 
habitable. 

Passing  from  Tyre  through  the  northern  parts 
of  Galilee,  we  saw  the  most  striking  marks  of  an- 
cient fertility  and  prosperity,  where  now  little 
else  is  to  be  seen  but  barrenness  and  desolation. 
The  fine,  rich  country  around  the  sea  of  Tiberias, 
once  thickly  studded  with  large  towns,  the  small- 
est of  which,  as  Josephus  informs  us,  contained 
15,000  inhabitants,  is  now,  for  the  most  part,  a 
neglected,  unpeopled  waste;  only  two  miserable 
villages  appear  on  the  western  shore  of  the  lake, 
Magdalla  and  Tiberias,  and  not  a  single  fisher- 
boat  is  seen  on  its  waters.  The  sites  of  ancient 
Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  were  pointed  out  to  us 
near  the  north  end  of  the  lake  ;  but  the  towns 
themselves  can  scarcely  be  said  to  exist,  so  poor 
and  dilapidated  are  the  few  buildings  that  remain 
where,  it  is  supposed,  they  once  stood.  As  for 
Capernaum,  which  was  once  exalted  to  heaven, 
the  place  is  not  known  where  it  formerly  flour- 
ished ;  the  woe  pronounced  upon  it  by  the  Sa- 


PALESTINE    AND    JERUSALEM.  187 

viour  seems  long  since  to  have  been  executed, 
and  it  has  been  thrust  down  from  its  elevation  to 
a  state  of  utter  ruin  and  oblivion. 

The  great  plain  of  Esdraellon  too,  or  Jezreel, 
stretching  from  the  base  of  mount  Carrnel  nearly 
to  the  shore  of  the  Jordan,  exuberantly  rich  in 
soil  and  beautiful  in  situation,  presented,  at  the 
time  I  crossed  it  in  the  month  of  April,  little  else 
than  a  most  prolific  growth  of  wild  flowers  and 
grass,  with  only  here  and  there  a  spot  under  cul- 
tivation. The  same  may  be  said  of  the  still  more 
extensive  plain  of  Sharon,  and  of  the  fine,  rich 
country  situated  around  what  was  once  the  capi- 
tal of  ancient  Samaria.  In  passing  over  these 
beautiful  parts  of  the  country,  you  see  the  most 
indubitable  signs  of  a  former  high  cultivation  and 
thrift,  and  of  a  teeming  population,  where  now 
are  only  decay  and  ruin. 

From  Samaria  towards  Jerusalem,  the  country 
assumes  a  still  more  sterile  appearance.  The 
hills  and  mountains,  though  once  evidently  culti- 
vated to  their  very  summits,  and  clothed  with 
vineyards,  fig-trees,  pomegranates  and  olives, 
now  present  little  else  than  a  mass  of  naked  rock. 
The  terraces,  which  once  supported  the  soil,  are 


188  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

v 

in  ruins  ;  and  the  mould,  as  fast  as  it  is  formed, 
is  washed  down  the  slopes  and  nothing  remains 
but  rocky  barrenness. 

Even  in  the  valleys,  it  is  only  here  and  there, 
that  a  field  is  seen  in  a  state  of  tillage.  The 
country  immediately  around  Jerusalem,  especial- 
ly to  the  west  and  north,  is  the  most  dreary, 
barren  and  waste,  I  ever  beheld.  It  seems  over- 
laid with  immense  masses  of  rocks  and  stones, 
with  scarcely  soil  enough  to  allow  any  thing  to 
take  root  and  grow.  The  city  itself,  once  beyond 
a  doubt,  the  most  magnificent  and  splendid  on 
earth,  now  presents  only  a  melancholy  contrast 
to  its  former  greatness  and  glory.  You  cannot 
walk  about  Sion,  and  go  round  about  her,  as  of 
old,  and  tell  the  towers  thereof,  mark  her  bul- 
warks and  consider  her  palaces.  The  city  sits 
solitary  and  forlorn;  forsaken  of  God  and  evi- 
dently lying  under  his  curse.  All  who  have 
been  in  Jerusalem  must  have  felt  this.  The  in- 
habitants few,  and  with  the  exception  of  the 
Turks, — if  indeed  they  are  an  exception, — poor, 
oppressed  and  extremely  miserable.  No  suburbs, 
no  surrounding  busy  population,  none  of  the  stir 
and  activity  of  enterprising  life  is  to  be  witnessed, 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM.  189 

'but  only  one  rude  scene  of  melancholy  waste,  in 
the  midst  of  which  the  ancient  glory  of  Judea 
bows  her  widowed  head  in  desolation.'     A  few 
goats  and  sheep,  straggling  about  the  rocks  which 
overhang  the  shattered  remains  of  the  village  of 
Siloam  ;  a  few  swarthy  shepherds,  plying  their 
listless  occupation  ;  with  here  and  there  a  fierce, 
armed  Bedouin  from  the  surrounding  deserts  and 
mountain  fastnesses,  and  now  and  then  a  cowled 
monk  or  wandering  pilgrim  steal  in  upon  the  pic- 
ture ;  and  except  it  be  the  sound  of  the  muezzin 
from  the  minarets,  proclaiming  the  hour  of  prayer 
to  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet,  you  may  sit 
on  the  hill  slopes,  on  either  side,  for  an  hour  to- 
gether, and  not  hear  the  vibration  of  a  human 
voice  from  that  spot,  which  once  echoed  to  the 
strains  of  sacred   song,  and  royal  triumph,  and 
national  glory,  and  the  busy  din  and  tumult  of 
2,000,000  of  people. 

I  can  pursue  no  further  this  painful  contrast 
between  the  present  and  past  condition  of  Pales- 
tine and  the  Holy  City ;  between  the  "  goodly 
land"  formerly  enriched  with  "  plenty  of  corn 
and  oil  and  wine,"  and  this  modern  territory  of 
desolation  and  barrenness.  In  what  has  been 
17 


190  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

said,  I  have  wished  to  show  that,  though  little  is 
now  seen  but  sterility  and  decay,  the  physical 
capabilities  of  the  country  are  great,  and  that  its 
present  barren,  unpeopled  condition  is  the  result 
of  divine  judgments.  No  one,  it  seems  to  me, 
can  pass  through  the  country,  without  being  con- 
vinced, that  the  curse  of  God,  in  fulfilment  of  his 
threatening,  is  stamped  on  the  face  of  nature,  and 
on  all  the  interests  of  society.  And  thy  heaven 
that  is  over  thy  head  shall  be  brass,  and  the  earth 
that  is  under  thee  shall  be  iron.  The  Lord  shall 
make  the  rain  of  thy  land  powder  and  dust ;  from 
heaven  shall  it  come  down  upon  thee,  until  t/tou  be 
destroyed.  This  fearful  den  uncial  ion  has  been 
executed  j  and  the  consequences  are  seen  in  the 
sterility,  desolation  and  ruin  which  every  where 
meet  the  traveler,  as  he  passes  through  the  land, 
once  favored  of  God  above  all  other  lands. 

2.  While  traveling  in  Syria  and  Palestine  one 
can  hardly  fail  to  receive  a  deeper  and  more  vivid 
impression  of  the  trutJtfulness  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Holy  land  is  indeed  a  local  commentary  on 
the  sacred  volume.  One  who  visits  that  land 
with  the  love  of  the  Bible  in  his  heart,  and  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  its  contents  in  his  mind, 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       191 

will  continually  meet  with  illustrations  of  its 
geography,  history,  prophecy,  comparisons  and 
images.  He  will  feel  that  he  is  in  the  very  land 
of  the  Bible ;  and  he  will  find  it  the  best  guide- 
book he  can  have.  I  felt  this  deeply  when  in 
that  land,  and  I  often  said,  either  the  Bible  must 
be  true,  or  Judea  an  unreal  thing;  and  all  the 
objects  and  scenes  which  there  meet  the  eye 
must  be  dreams.  Take  a  position  on  the  lofty 
hill  on  which  Safet  is  built,  or  on  any  of  the  high 
lands  around  Nazareth,  and  a  vast  panorama  is 
spread  out  to  your  view,  every  part  of  which  re- 
minds you  of  some  locality,  some  historical  event, 
some  great  transaction  recorded  in  the  Scriptures. 
Mount  Hermon  raising  aloft  its  snowy  head,  with 
the  sources  of  the  Jordan  and  the  beautiful  vale 
through  which  it  flows;  the  sea  of  Tibeiias  with 
its  interesting  localities, and  the  mountains  of  Moab 
stretching  along  in  the  east,  like  a  waving  line 
drawn  on  the  horizon  ;  the  mount  of  Beatitudes 
where  Christ  preached  to  the  multitude  ;  Naza- 
reth where  he'was  brought  up;  Tabor  where  he  was 
transfigured  ;  Nain  where  he  raised  the  widow's 
son  to  life  ;  Gilboa  where  Saul  was  slain ;  Endor 
where  he  went  to  consult  the  woman  who  had  a 


192  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

familiar  spirit;  Shvmem  where  Elijah  restored  to 
life  the  Shunamife's  son  ;  Mount  Carmel,  rising 
in  the  distance,  where  he  usually  resided  and 
where  he  sent  his  servant  to  watch  the  cloud,  as 
it  rose  from  the  sea,  portending  rain  ;  Jezreel,  the 
royal  residence  of  Ahab,  and  the  great  plain  of 
the  same  name,  lying  below,  the  scene  of  many 
a  bloody  battle  recorded  in  the  Bible ; — all  these, 
rich  in  Scriptural  associations,  lie  spread  out  be- 
fore you  as  on  a  map ;  and  as  you  contemplate 
them,  the  whole  scene  of  sacred  history  rises  to 
view  with  a  new  and  wonderful  sense  of  reality. 
The  same  impression  I  felt,  when  from  the  top  of 
Mount  Gerizim  I  looked  upon  the  frowning  front 
of  opposite  Ebal,  and  gazed  upon  the  charming 
piece  of  ground  which  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Jo- 
seph, visited  the  tomb  of  this  his  beloved  son,  and 
the  well  where  the  Saviour  once  sat  and  refreshed 
himself,  wearied  with  his  journey,  and  traced  for 
many  a  mile  the  road  he  was  wont  to  travel  as  he 
went  to  and  from  Jerusalem  through  Samaria. 
Being  on  the  spot,  amid  these  sacred  localities, 
and  seeing  how  exactly  they  correspond  with  the 
references  made  to  them  in  the  Scriptures,  the 
truth  of  the  inspired  volume  comes  home  with 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM.  193 

new  power  to  the  mind,  and  impresses  itself  with 
a  livelier  interest  on  the  heart.  So,  take  a 
position  on  the  top  of  mount  Olivet,  and  view 
the  scene  that  spreads  around  you,  and  you  will 
seem  to  hear  a  thousand  voices  speaking  to  you 
of  scriptural  events,  and  giving-  you  a  new  and 
deeper  impression  of  theii  reality.  As  you  leave 
the  cily,  you  pass  through  St.  Stephen's  gate, 
near  to  which  is  the  Pool  of  Bethesda ;  you  de- 
scend into  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  cross  the 
brook  Kedron  and  tread  the  same  road  (hat  was 
wont  to  be  traveled  by  the  Saviour  and  his  Apos- 
tles, and  up  which  he  was  led  to  the  hall  of 
Pilate  on  his  way  to  (rial.  You  enter  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane,  the  place  of  his  last  agony,  and 
muse  with  deep  emotion  on  the  scenes  of  that 
dreadful  night.  You  reach  the  summit  of  the 
mount  and  near  by,  a  little  to  the  east,  is  the 
place  whence  the  Saviour  ascended  to  glory,  in 
the  presence  of  his  disciples  ;  a  little  further  on 
is  Bethany,  the  village  of  Lazarus  and  his  two 
sisters,  Martha  and  Mary ;  at  .your  right  is  the 
road  leading  down  to  Jericho,  winding  round 
among  the  hills  and  valleys,  till  it  loses  itself  in 
the  dark,  gloomy  wilderness  of  the  Saviour's 
17* 


194  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

temptation  ;  beyond  which  is  seen  the  Dead  Sea, 
with  all  its  solemn  and  affecting  associations. 
At  the  south-west,  distant  some  seven  or  eight 
miles,  is  Bethlehem,  the  place  of  our  Lord's  birth, 
hanging  upon  the  slope  of  a  lofty  hill,  and  pre- 
senting a  fine  view  of  the  church  of  the  nativity. 
Beneath  you,  at  the  western  base  of  the  mount, 
winds  the  deep  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  on  the 
opposite  hill  lies  spread  out  before  you  the  Holy 
City;  and  as  you  gaze  upon  the  scene,  the  'tide 
of  sacred  history  flows  massively  through  the 
soul,'  and  the  events  of  ages,  as  connected  with 
this  spot,  pass  in  rapid  review  before  the  mind. 
There  is  the  site  of  the  once  joyous  city,  the  city 
that  was  full  of  people,  beautiful  for  situation, 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth  ;  the  place  of  kings 
and  heaven's  inspired  messengers  ;  the  place  of 
the  visions  of  God,  and  of  the  ministries  of  angels; 
over  which  the  Saviour  wept  as  he  descended,  for 
the  last  time,  from  this  lovely  mount ;  where  he 
taught,  and  wrought  miracles,  was  condemned 
and  crucified  and  rose  from  the  dead.  Absorbed 
in  contemplating  the  past,  and  beholding  the 
present  poor,  degraded  condition  of  the  city  ;  the 
site  of  the  glorious  temple,  now  occupied  by  the 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       195 

dark,  unseemly  mosque  of  Omar,  and  signs  of 
desolation  and  ruin  on  every  side,  you  seem  to 
hear  afresh,  the  voice  of  the  Saviour,  as  weeping, 
he  uttered  the  prophetic  words, — if  thou  hadst 
known,  even  thou  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the 
things  which  belong  to  thy  peace  ;  but  now  they 
are  hid  from  thine  eyes.  For  the  days  shall  come 
upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench 
about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round  and  keep 
thee  in  on  every  side  ;  and  shall  lay  thee  even 
with  the  ground,  and  thy  children  within  thee ; 
and  they  shall  not  leave  in  thee  one  stone  upon 
another,  because  thou  knewest  not  the  day  of  thy 
visitation. 

Indeed  one  cannot  pass  through  Syria  and  Pal- 
estine, without  meeting  every  where  with  objects 
to  remind  him  of  the  truth  of  God  in  his  word. 
There  prophecy  was  uttered  by  seers  of  old,  and 
there  prophecy  has  had  its  awful  fulfilment. 
The  naked  rocks,  the  deserted  plains,  the  wasted 
villages  and  ruined  towns,  the  whole  sterile,  des- 
olate aspect  of  the  country  are  but  a  faithful  com- 
mentary on  the  declarations  of  the  Bible,  fore- 
warning of  judgments  that  should  come  in  pun- 
ishment of  idolatry  and  sin. 


196  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

While  Tyre  was  yet  in  her  glory,  the  proud 
mistress  of  the  seas,  and  holding  commerce  with 
all  the  then  known  world,  God  said,  by  the 
prophet  Ezekiel,  I  am  against  thee,  O  Tyrus,  and 
I  will  cause  many  nations  to  come  up  against 
thee,  as  the  sea  causeth  the  waves  to  come  up. 
And  they  shall  destroy  the  walls  of  Tyre,  and 
break  down  her  towers ;  /  will  also  scrape  her 
dust  from  her,  and  make  her  like  the  top  of  a  rock. 
It  sliall  be  a  place  for  the  spreading  af  nets  in  the 
midst  of  the  sea ;  for  I  have  spoken  it  saith  the 
Lord  God,  and  it  shall  become  a  spoil  to  the  na- 
tions." Standing  on  the  spot,  I  felt  deeply  how 
literally  this  threatening  had  been  executed. 
Tyre  has  indeed  become  like  the  lop  of  a  rock,  a 
place  to  spread  nets  upon.  Old  Tyre  formerly 
stood  on  the  main  land.  The  ruins  of  this  great 
and  proud  city  were  used  by  Alexander  the  Great, 
332  years  before  Christ,  to  fill  up  an  arm  of  the 
sea,  and  thus  construct  a  mole  or  isthmus  to  ena- 
ble him  to  press  the  seige  against  modern  Tyre, 
then  situated  on  an  island,  and  thus  was  literally 
fulfilled  the  word  of  prophecy — For  thus  saith 
the  Lord  God,  when  I  shall  make  thee  a  desolate 
city,  like  the  cities  that  are  not  inhabited ;  when 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       197 

I  shall  bring  up  the  deep  upon  thee,  and  great  wa- 
ters shall  overflow  thee,  I  will  make  thee  a  terror 
and  thou  shalt  be  no  more.  Tyre  is  thus,  as  it 
were,*  a  permanent  living  witness  to  the  truth  of 
God,  a  "hoary  monitor,  speaking  forth  from  its 
desolation  to  us  and  to  men  of  all  ages  and 
climes." 

From  these  brief  notices,  you  will  easily  see 
how  it  is,  that  one,  passing  through  the  lands  of 
the  East,  gets  a  new  and  more  vivid  impression 
of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Scriptures.  He  feels 
himself  to  be  in  the  home  of  (he  Scriptures  ;  amid 
the  very  objects  and  scenes  which  they  describe, 
and  from  which  they  draw  their  illustrations  and 
images.  There  are  the  localities  with  which  are 
connected  our  deepest  and  most  interesting  scrip- 
tural associations.  There  are  the  vines  and  the 
fig-trees  and  the  olives,  and  the  cattle  on  a  thou- 
sand hills ;  the  same  fruits,  flowers,  birds,  ani- 
mals, and  modes  of  living,  that  were  common 
four  thousand  years  ago.  'Near  every  village 
there  are  caves,  and  cisterns,  and  sepulchres  cut 
in  the  rock ;  women,  generally  two  together, 
grinding  at  the  mill;  holding  the  distaff,  and 

*  Read  Isaiah  xxiii.  and  Ezekiel  xxvi.  xxvii.  xxviii. 


198 


RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 


spinning  ;  oxen  treading  out  the  corn,  groups  of 
females  seated  near  a  well,  or  drawing  water 
for  their  flocks  ;  shepherds  abiding  in  the  fields  ; 
the  bottles  of  the  people  are  made  of  leather ; 
their  beds  are  a  simple  mator  carpet,  and  even  a 
child  may  take  them  up  and  walk  ;  the  grass  is 
cast  into  the  oven,  people  live  in  the  tombs,  there 
are  lodges  in  the  gardens  of  cucumbers,  grass 
grows  upon  the  tops  of  the  houses,  and  the  inhab- 
itants walk  and  sleep  upon  the  roofs  of  their 
dwellings ;  the  wheel  is  seen  turning  at  the  foun- 
tain and  the  vessels  or  pitchers  connected  with  it 
may  be  broken.'  These  customs,  and  a  multitude 
of  others  that  might  be  named,  are  often  referred 
to  in  the  Scriptures,  and  seeing  them  on  the  very 
ground  where  the  Scriptures  were  written,  im- 
parts to  them  a  freshness  and  reality  not  to  be 
felt  in  any  other  situation.  The  Bible,  many 
parts  of  it,  at  least,  Appears  to  me  like  a  new 
book.  I  read  it  with  a  livelier  interest,  since  my 
eyes  have  rested  on  many  of  the  objects  and 
scenes  which  it  describes;  and  while  the  articles 
of  my  faith  have  none  of  them  been  changed  by 
what  I  have  seen,  I  trust  that  all  of  them  have  a 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       199 

deeper  place  in  my  affections  and  a  stronger  hold 
on  my  mind.     But, 

3.  I  must  now  present  a  view  of  this  subject 
somewhat  different.  The  impressions  made  on 
themind  by  visitingPalestine  are  not  all  favorable 
to  spiritual  affections,  or  to  the  strengthening  of 
our  faith.  Some  imagine,  that  to  look  with  the 
bodily  eyes  upon  the  exact  spots,  where  the  great 
events  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  occurred,  must 
of  course  produce  a  powerful  spiritual  effect  on 
the  mind.  Hence,  thousands  of  pilgrims  every 
year,  visit  Jerusalem  and  the  Holy  Land.  They 
come  from  Egypt,  from  all  paits  of  Syria,  and 
Asia  Minor,  from  Armenia,  from  Greece,  from 
Turkey,  from  the  provinces  of  the  Danube,  and 
from  the  distant  parts  of  Persia.  It  is  the  great 
object  of  life,  with  many,  to  obtain  property 
enough  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land. 
But  very  few,  it  is  believed,  are  made  better  by 
the  tour,  while  many,  it  is  known,  are  made 
worse.  The  fact  is,  local  associations  are  insuffi- 
cient, of  themselves,  to  awaken  spiritual  feelings. 
The  heart  that  is  cold,  while  studying  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  retirement,  or  surrounded  by  Christian 
ordinances  in  a  Christian  land,  is  not  likely  to 
\ 


200  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

glow  with  any  kindling  warmth,  even  on  the 
mount  of  Beatitudes,  or  in  the  garden  of  Gethse- 
mane.  Much  depends  on  the  state  of  mind  which 
one  carries  with  him  in  visiting  sacred  places. 
He,  who  goes  to  Jerusalem  with  little  faith,  will 
not  be  likely  to  return  with  much.  I  can  easily 
imagine,  that  a  worldly  minded  man,  or  a  man 
having  but  little  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
no  settled  faith  in  God,  might  be  made  a  sceptic 
and  an  infidel  by  visiting  Palestine,  and  especial- 
ly Jerusalem,  with  all  its  miserable  superstitions 
and  mummeries.  This,  we  know,  has  often 
been  the  effect  of  a  visit  to  Rome  ;  and  would,  I 
think,  in  many  cases,  be  the  effect  of  a  visit  to 
the  Holy  City, — there  is  so  much  there  that  is 
anti-christian  and  abominable,  so  much  to  dis- 
please and  disgust.  I  often  felt,  when  traveling 
in  the  East,  particularly  in  Syria  and  the  Holy 
Land,  that  if  I  could  not  have  access  to  the 
Bible,  to  guide  and  assist  my  faith,  I  should  cer- 
tainly become  an  unbeliever,  so  mean,  so  degra- 
ded, so  unintelligent  and  worthless  did  nearly  all 
that  is  there  called  Christianity,  religion,  appear 
to  me.  In  that  land  of  superstition  and  igno- 
rance, one  needs  both  the  power  and  the  disposi- 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       201 

tion  to  separate  the  gold  from  the  dross,  the  pre- 
cious from  the  vile  ;  and  if  he  lacks  this,  he  will 
be  much  exposed  to  throw  away  all  as  dross,  all 
as  vile. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  further,  that  persons,  of 
different  constitutional  temperaments,  will  be 
affected  differently,  by  the  objects  presented  to 
view  in  the  Holy  Land.  Those  of  a  warm, 
imaginative  turn,  or  who  are  chiefly  wrought 
upon,  through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  may 
have  their  feelings  strongly  excited  by  visiting 
the  sacred  places  in  and  around  Jerusalem, 
They  may  kiss,  with  great  ardor,  the  various  ob- 
jects which  are  pointed  out  to  them  as  holy ;  may 
weep  abundantly,  as  they  kneel  by  the  spot  where 
the  cross  was  fixed,  and  be  convulsed  with  emo- 
tion as  they  embrace  the  tomb  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
or  pay  their  devotions  in  the  church  of  the  Holy 
sepulchre ;  and  yet  all  this  while  they  know  noth- 
ing of  spiritual  Christianity,  be  as  much  the  ser- 
vants of  sin  as  ever,  and  as  little  meet  for  heaven. 
This  is  often  the  case  ;  and  hence  in  Roman 
Catholic  churches,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
churches  of  the  East,  there  is  frequently  mani- 
fested a  great  deal  of  emotion  where  there  is  no 
18 


202  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

religion.     It  is  all  feeling-,  all  emotion,  nothing 
else. 

On  the  contrary,  persons  who  are  of  a  calm, 
reflective  cast  of  mind,  and  whose  feelings  are  ex- 
cited rather  through  the  understanding  and  con 
science,  than  by  outward,  visible  signs,  may  visit 
the  Holy  City  and  the  various  sacred  localities  in 
the  Holy  Land,  and  be  interested,  and,  perhaps, 
profited  ;  and  yet  they  will  be  likely  to  have  no 
strong  feelings,  no  deep  emotions.  Many  are 
disappointed  in  this  respect,  and  wonder  how  they 
can  view  objects,  accounted  so  sacred  and  so  im- 
portant, with  so  little  feeling.  The  truth  is,  the 
best  and  most  affecting  means  of  grace,  to  an  en- 
lightened, Christian  mind,  are  not  to  be  found  in 
viewing  saintly  relics,  or  in  visiting  holy  places, 
or  in  worshipping  even  at  the  reputed  shrines  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  virgin  mother  ;  but  in  study- 
ing the  simple  Scriptures,  in  seeking  the  retire- 
ment of  the  closet,  in  enjoying  the  Sabbath  with 
its  privileges  ;  in  bowing  with  fellow  Christians 
before  the  throne  of  grace,  and  paying  to  our 
common  Father  an  intelligent,  spiritual  worship. 

A  distinction  is  likewise  to  be  made  between 
Jthe  different  kinds  of  events  of  which  the   Holy 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       203 

Land  has  been  equally  the  theatre.  Such  as  are 
common,  or  fall  within  the  usual  range  of  human 
observation  and  experience,  we  are  assisted  to 
realize,  more  vividly,  by  being  on  the  spot,  where 
they  transpired.  But  such  as  are  supernatural^ 
such  as  relate  to  the  great  spiritualities  of  our 
faith,  to  the  wonders  of  redemption, — events  of 
this  kind,  we  are  very  little  aided  to  comprehend 
and  feel,  by  local  vision,  or  by  being  present  at 
the  places  where  they  occurred.  For  example, 
when  I  stood  by  Jacob's  well,  and  remembered 
how  the  Saviour  once  sat  there,  wearied  with  his 
journey,  and  held  conversation  with  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  the  whole  scene  rose  to  my  view  with 
new  and  deeper  impressiveness.  So  when  I 
passed  through  the  village  of  Bethany,  I  thought, 
with  peculiar  interest,  of  the  sweet  intercourse 
which  our  Lord  was  wont  to  have  with  the  little, 
pious  family  that  once  resided  there.  As  I  looked 
upon  the  road  leading  down  to  Jericho,  dark  and 
terrible  as  it  approached  the  wilderness,  and 
thought  of  the  man  who  fell  there  among  thieves, 
the  goodness  of  the  Samaritan  and  the  beauty  of 
the  whole  narrative  never  appeared  to  me  in  so 
striking  and  impressive  a  light.  And  when, 


204  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

passing-  along  the  road  that  leads  from  Bethany 
to  Jeiusalem,  around  the  southern  slope  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  I  came  near  to  the  spot  where 
Jesus  beheld  the  city  and  wept  over  it,  the  whole 
transaction  seemed  present  to  my  mind, and  I  min- 
gled in  the  tender,  solemn  scene,  with  deep  emo- 
tion. These,  and  other  events  like  them,  gather  a 
newand  more  impressive  interestin  our  view,  from 
having  the  localities  before  us  with  which  they 
are  connected.  But  when  we  come  to  the  deep- 
er and  more  spiritual  parts  of  our  religion,  to  the 
great  transactions  connected  with  our  redemp- 
tion, the  birth  of  Christ  in  a  stable,  his  temptation 
in  the  wilderness,  his  agony  in  the  garden,  his 
crucifixion,  his  resurrection,  his  ascension, — here 
localities  are  of  very  little  use.  These  are  mys- 
teries too  sacred,  too  sublime  to  be  understood  or 
felt,  through  the  medium  of  the  senses.  They 
are  to  be  apprehended  and  brought  home  to  the 
mind,  in  their  true  spiritual  impiessiveness,  only 
by  faith,  by  calm  reflection  and  prayer.  Indeed, 
I  often  felt  while  traveling  in  Palestine,  that 
local  associations  tended  to  throw  a  hurtful  ma- 
terialism around  my  most  spiritual  views  of  divine 
things  j  I  frequently  had  to  resist  this  influence 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.      205 

by  calling  in  my  thoughts  from  the  sensible  to 
the  spiritual,  and  I  feel  quite  sure  that,  in  so  far 
as  deep  impressions  of  great,  spiritual  truths  are 
concerned,  the  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land  has  no 
advantage  over  him  who  remains  at  home,  and 
makes  a  right  use  of  his  Bible  and  his  Sabbaths. 
It  was  my  privilege,  while  in  Jerusalem,  to 
partake  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
with  several  Christian  friends.     It  was  in  an  up- 
per room,  at  the  same  season  of  the  year  when 
the   Saviour  instituted   the  ordinance,  near   the 
place  where  he  partook  of  it  with  his  disciples, 
within  sight  of  the  spot  where  he  suffered  and 
died,  and  of  the  mount  whence  he  ascended  to 
heaven.     It  may  be  thought,  that  these  circum- 
stances must  have  imparted  a  deep  and   most 
impressive  interest  to  the  occasion.    It  was  indeed 
interesting ;    it  could  not  be  otherwise.     Still  I 
can  say  with  truth,  that  often  here  at  home,  I 
have  been  much  more  deeply  impressed  by  the 
ordinance,  and  have  derived  from  it  much  greater 
spiritual  benefit.   The  local  associations  distracted 
my  mind,  and   drew  my  thoughts  away  from 
those  spiritual  views  of  the  ordinance,  which  are 
18* 


RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

essential  to  its  producing  its  deepest  and  best 
effect  on  the  heart 

It  is  impossible,  moreover,  to  visit  Jerusalem 
and  the  Holy  Land,  without  being  continually 
oppressed  with  most  painful  and  sorrowful  re- 
flections. You  feel,  wherever  you  go,  that  the 
city  and  the  land  are  under  the  dreadful  curse  of 
God.  The  whole  country  exhibits  a  most  melan- 
choly contrast  to  what  it  once  was,  and  to  what 
it  might  now  have  been,  but  for  the  sins  of  those 
who  once  dwelt  there.  The  threatenings  of  God 
have  been  executed,  and  the  whole  land  lies  des- 
olate and  in  ruins. 

The  city,  which,  it  is  said,  once  contained  more 
than  two  millions  of  people,  and  for  magnificence 
and  splendor,  was  unsurpassed  by  any  other  on 
earth,  is  now  reduced  to  some  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen thousand  souls,  Turks,  Arabs,  Jews,  and  a 
motley  mixture  from  many  other  nations,  most 
of  them  extremely  poor  and  miserable,  dwelling 
in  rude  stone  buildings,  and  subsisting  on  means 
one  knows  not  what.  Then  for  religion,  alas  ! 
well  nigh  every  name  and  form  of  it  is  there  an 
abomination.  Painful  as  it  was  to  hear  the  cry 
of  the  muezzin,  calling  the  followers  of  the  false 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM. 

prophet  to  their  devotions,  on  the  spot  where  once 
the  thousands  of  Israel  were  wont  to  shout  forth 
the  praises  of  God,  and  worship  him  in  the  glo- 
rious temple  filled  with  his  presence,!  could  not 
but  feel,  that  even  such  a  cry  and  such  devotions 
were,  to  say  the  least,  not  more  irrational,  impi- 
ous, and  offensive  to  Jehovah,  than  what  is  daily 
exhibited,  under  the  name  of  religion,  in  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  I  was  present  on 
"  the  great,  or  Easter  Saturday,"  and  witnessed 
what  is  called  the  miracle  of  the  holy  fire.  I 
cannot  describe  the  scene.  Imagine  some  three 
or  four  thousand  pilgrims,  with  every  variety  of 
costume,  and  some  with  almost  no  costume  at  all, 
assembled  and  densely  crowded  together  in  the 
immense  area  of  the  church,  all  excited  to  the 
most  intense  fanaticism,  in  expectation  of  seeing 
the  heaven-descended  flame,  issue  from  holes  in 
the  sides  of  the  sepulchre.  Turkish  soldiers  were 
stationed  in  different  parts  of  the  church,  with 
bayoneted  muskets;  and  officers  full  armed,  car- 
rying likewise  large  sticks  or  canes,  which  they 
frequently  had  occasion  to  use,  and  with  great 
violence,  in  beating  groups  of  quarreling  pilgrims 
into  order.  One  can  have  no  idea  of  the  excesses 


208  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

there  practiced,  without  witnessing  them.  It  was 
awful.  Laughing,  singing,  fighting,  shouting, 
jumping,  clapping  of  hands,  and  dancing,  suc- 
ceeded each  other,  or  were  carried  on  all  at  once 
in  different  quarters  of  the  church.  I  thought  of 
the  furies,  of  the  wild  orgies  of  pagans  at  their 
idolatrous  feasts,  but  I  can  find  no  comparison 
rightly  to  represent  it. 

The  Greek  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  the  principal 
actor  in  this  stupendous  farce,  accompanied  by  a 
priest,  at  length  appeared,  preceded  by  a  Turk- 
ish guard,  entered  the  sepulchre  and  the  door 
was  closed.  In  about  half  an  hour,  the  miracle 
workers  sent  forth  the  celestial  fire  through  the 
apertures  before  named  ;  the  maddened  multi- 
tude sent  forth  a  shout  like  that  of  bachanals, 
and  rushed  forward  to  light  their  torches  at  the 
holy  fire,  which  they  say  will  not  burn,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  whole  church  was  in  a  blaze  of 
light.  As  I  witnessed  this  shocking  scene,  the 
insults  offered  to  the  majesty  of  God  within  the 
church  dedicated  to  his  worship,  and  by  priests 
bearing  the  holy  name  of  the  Saviour,  I  could 
not  but  fear  and  tremble,  lest  the  judgments  of 


PALESTINE  AND  JERUSALEM.       209 

heaven  should  break  forth  instantly  against  such 
barefaced  imposture  and  wickedness.* 

*  The  sepulchre  is  an  oblong  marble  structure,  perhaps  fifteen 
feet  in  length  by  eight  in  breadth,  and  twelve  or  fifteen  in  height, 
It  is  divided  into  two  apartments,  in  the  innermost  of  which  is 
what  is  represented  to  be  the  real  tomb  of  the  Saviour,  covered 
with  a  marble  slab,  raised  some  two  feet  above  the  floor.  This 
sepulchre,  or  mausoleum  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  large  circular 
church,  surmounted  by  a  lofty  dome.  As  the  church  has  no 
windows,  the  dome  is  the  only  avenue  through  which  light  is 
admitted,  and  being  open,  or  only  covered  with  strong  wire 
gauze  work,  it  serves  well  the  purposes  of  ventilation.  The 
front  of  the  sepulchre,  which  is  towards  the  east,  is  gorgeously 
ornamented  with  gold  and  silver  lamps,  and  various  costly  offer- 
ings made  by  pilgrims,  who,  in  successive  ages,  have  gone  there 
to  perform  their  devotions. 

It  seems  probable,  that  the  miracle  of  the  "  holy  fire,"  did  not 
originate  at  Jerusalem,  but  at  Poitiers,  in  France,  about  the 
year  569.  In  a  church  built  there  by  the  queen  of  France,  the 
wife  of  Clotaire,  among  other  miracles  said  to  have  been  per- 
formed in  it,  was  that  of  a  light  supernaturally  produced  on 
Good  Friday,  annually,  two  days  before  Easter.  In  the  year 
870,  the  "  holy  light"  is  first  heard  of  as  being  at  Jerusalem. 
It  is  very  probable,  as  Coray,  acelebraled  Greek  writer  suggests, 
that  the  miracle  was  either  invented  some  time  previous,  or 
transferred  from  Poitiers  to  the  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  for  the 
purpose  of  attracting  pilgrims,  who,  on  account  of  Mohammedan 
persecutions,  were  deterred  from  making  the  pilgrimage.  At 
this  time  the  "  holy  light"  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, who  retained  the  choice  possession,  the  power  of  working 


210  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

But  besides  the  grosser  forms  of  superstition 
and  wickedness  just  referred  to,  there  are  numer- 
ous other  things,  in  and  around  Jerusalem,  which 
are  exceedingly  annoying  to  a  Christian  traveler, 
and  can  hardly  fail  to  excite  his  deep  indignation 
and  grief.  He  feels  himself  to  be  in  the  midst  of 
lying  legends,  and  foolish  traditions,  and  degra- 
ding superstitions.  They  meet  him  on  every  side  ; 
the  very  atmosphere  seems  poisoned  with  them. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  objects  and  places 
which  are  pointed  out  as  sacred,  are  the  mere 
inventions  of  stupid  monks,  or  the  creations  of 
superstitious  credulity.  There  is  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  even  the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
stands  on  the  spot  of  the  crucifixion  and  burial  of 

this  annual  miracle,  for  about  three  hundred  years.  When 
Jerusalem  was  taken  from  the  Crusaders,  by  the  Saracens,  under 
Saladin,  in  1187,  he  gave  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  to  the 
Greeks,  who  have  retained  it  ever  since, and  have  yearly  exhib- 
ited the  impious  farce  of  this  pretended  miracle.  The  Catho- 
lics now  mock  at  it,  as  a  gross  imposition,  though  it  is  certain 
that  they  practiced  it,  annually,  for  at  least  three  centuries,  and 
regarded  it  as  the  seal  of  heaven  on  their  church.  For  the  last 
six  hundred  years  or  more,  the  Greeks,  by  favor  of  their  Moham- 
medan rulers,  have  enjoyed  the  same  monopoly,  and  of  course 
believe  that  they  have  equally  the  divine  sanction  to  their 
orthodoxy. 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM.  211 

our  Lord.  And  yet  within  that  church  are  com- 
prised almost  all  the  spots  associated  with  the  last 
days  of  our  Saviour.  They  show  you  the  place 
where  he  stood  and  wept,  the  pillar  by  which  he 
was  scourged,  the  spot  where  he  was  crowned 
with  thorns,  the  hill  of  Calvary,  up  some  fourteen 
or  fifteen  stairs,  where  he  was  crucified,  the  stone 
on  which  his  body  was  anointed,  the  tomb  where 
he  was  laid,  the  cleft  made  in  the  rock  by  the 
earthquake,  from  which  Adam's  skull  was  taken, 
the  very  place  where  the  wood  of  the  cross  was 
found  by  the  Empress  Hellena,  and  the  exact 
point  where  is  the  centre  of  the  world.  And  if 
you  pass  out  of  the  city  to  the  mount  of  Olives, 
you  are  shown,  in  the  church  of  the  ascension, 
the  precise  spot  whence  he  ascended,  with  the 
print  of  his  feet  and  of  his  staff  in  the  rock.  The 
pilgrims  regard  these  things  with  great  venera- 
tion ;  to  visit  them,  to  kneel  by  them,  and  kiss 
them,  is  in  their  view  the  highest  act  of  religion, 
and  the  surest  way  to  obtain  salvation. 

The  enlightened  Christian  grieves  to  witness 
such  degrading  superstition  and  ignorance.  He 
is  pained  to  see  how  Christianity,  there  in  the 
cradle  of  its  birth,  and  on  the  spot  of  its  earliest 


212  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OF 

and  brightest  triumphs,  is  desecrated,  debased, 
crushed  down  and  destroyed  ;  and  while  he  em- 
braces  the  New  Testament  to  his  bosom  with  a 
warmer  faith  and  a  more  grateful  love,  as  show- 
ing to  him  a  more  excellent  way,  the  exclama- 
tion bursts,  involuntarily,  from  his  lips, — how 
long,  0  Lord,  how  long  shall  these  desolations 
continue ! 

From  the  high  land,  some  two  or  three  miles 
west  of  the  Jaffa  gate,  I  took  my  last  look  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  mount  of  Olives  still  lingered  awhile 
longer  in  sight.  I  gazed  upon  that  with  indescri- 
bable emotion,  till  the  little  church  on  its  summit 
faded  from  my  vision;  then  I  turned  and  went 
away  in  silence,  breathing  to  heaven  the  prayer, 
that  when  my  pilgrimage  on  earth  shall  be  ended, 
though  oceans  and  continents  may  separate  me 
from  the  place  of  my  Saviour's  humiliation  and 
triumph,  I  may  find  his  presence  with  me,  and 
be  accounted  worthy  to  ascend,  and  dwell  eter- 
nally with  him  in  the  world  of  glory. 

4.  To  one  who  has  visited  the  Holy  Land,  or 
who  feels  any  concern  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom,  it  is  a  question  of  deep 
interest,  what  is  to  be  the  future  condition  of  that 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM.  213 

land,  and  of  the  city  which  was  once  its  capital, 
the  place  of  sacred  solemnities,  and  of  God's 
especial  presence  1  Time  will  not  now  permit  a 
discussion  of  this  question.  There  are  those  who 
believe  that  Palestine  is  ere  long  to  rise  from  its 
present  desolations,  and  Jerusalem  to  assume 
more  than  its  ancient  glory ;  that  the  land  is 
again  to  be  peopled  by  the  descendants  of  those, 
who  once  owned  and  cultivated  the  soil,  and  that 
the  Holy  City,  no  longer  held  under  Moslem  rule, 
or  trodden  down  of  the  gentiles,  is  to  be  rebuilt, 
in  magnificence  and  splendor;  is  to  be  graced 
with  the  presence  of  her  King,  and  resound  with 
his  most  worthy  praise.  It  may  be  so.  I  express 
no  opinion  on  this  subject.  Judging  from  the 
present  aspect  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  Jews,  in  large  numbers,  may 
yet  go  back  and  dwell  there.  This  is  the  confi- 
dent expectation  of  the  great  body  of  the  nation, 
and  they  believe  the  time  is  near.  The  land,  in 
so  far  as  occupancy  is  concerned,  is  open  to 
receive  them.  Its  capability  to  sustain  a  great 
population  cannot  be  questioned.  And  should 
the  yoke  of  Turkish  oppression,  under  which  the 
country  now  groans,  be  broken,  and  a  wise,  stable 
19 


214  RELIGIOUS    IMPRESSIONS    OP 

government  be  established  there,  by  some  Chris- 
tian power, — England  for  example, — the  de- 
scendants of  Israel,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  would 
be  seen  flocking  there  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
where  they  are  now  scattered,  and  thus  the  land 
be  again  filled  by  its  rightful  owners. 

However  this  may  be,  one  thing  is  certain, 
Syria  and  Palestine  are  destined  soon  to  expe- 
rience great  changes,  and  they  will  be  changes, 
we  may  be  sure,  for  the  better.  The  Turkish 
reign  there  is  very  feeble  and  very  precarious. 
Indeed  the  whole  Turkish  empire  is  tottering  to 
its  fall.  It  is  held  up  for  a  time  by  the  jealousy 
of  European  powers  ;  but  its  fall  and  dismember- 
ment, at  no  distant  day,  is  certain.  That  day 
may  come  at  any  time  ;  and  when  it  comes,  sal- 
vation, I  believe,  will  come  to  the  land  of  God's 
ancient  people,  and  they  will  probably  return, 
many  of  them  at  least,  to  resume  the  heritage  of 
their  fathers. 

But  we  must  wait  the  development  of  God's 
purposes  ;  his  providence  will  ere  long  unroll  the 
book  of  destiny,  and  show  what  scenes  are  to  rise 
over  the  land  of  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and  of 
apostles  and  martyrs.  I  deem  it  a  high  privilege 


PALESTINE    AND   JERUSALEM.  215 

to  have  been  in  that  land.  My  memory  loves  to 
retrace  the  steps  of  my  travel,  and  call  up  the 
various  scenes  through  which  I  there  passed. 
To  have  presented  to  you  this  brief,  imperfect 
sketch  of  them,  has  renewed  to  me,  at  least  for  a 
season,  the  pleasure  I  felt  in  actual  vision  ;  and 
if  the  service  thus  performed  do  but  prove  the 
occasion  of  strengthening  your  fdith  in  God  and 
his  word,  and  awakening  in  you  a  warmer  grat- 
itude for  the  richer  blessings  that  distinguish  your 
lot,  then  will  I  give  thanks  to  the  Father  of  mer- 
cies, both  on  your  account  and  my  own  ;  and  daily 
shall  it  be  my  prayer,  that  pastor  and  people  may 
so  pursue  their  pilgrimage  here  below,  that  they 
shall  enter  together  the  New  Jerusalem,  that  city 
which  hath  foundations,  whose  Builder  and  Maker 
is  God. 


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